Question

So I have a script that checks for files newer than 1 day old. I want my script to send me an email if there are no files in this directory that are less than one day old, like it was created today.

My script, let me show you it:

new_files = [] #list of files newer than 1 day
for f in os.listdir(path):
 fn = os.path.join(path,f)
 ctime = os.stat(fn).st_ctime
 if ctime > now - 1 * 86400:
 #this is a new file
  new_files.append(fn)
 if new_files(): #checks the list
  sendmail #calls sendmail script that sends email

So, if new_files(): is me checking my list to see if anything was appended to it. If not, then the process failed and we need to know, by generating an alert email to our ticketing system. This is where my problem is. I don’t know how to check the list. When I run the script, I get TypeError: 'list' object is not callable.

What’s the right way to do this?

Answer 1

Counting the occurrence will help.

new_files = [] #list of files newer than 1 day
for f in os.listdir(path):
   fn = os.path.join(path,f)
   ctime = os.stat(fn).st_ctime
   if ctime > now - 1 * 86400:
        countit=new_files.count(fn)  #count previous occurence
        #this is a new file
        new_files.append(fn)
        if new_files.count(fn)>countit: 
             sendmail #calls sendmail script that sends email