# "Ignore\_older" the other way around

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-the-other-way-around/258653>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [December 14, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-the-other-way-around/258653 "2020-12-14T23:19:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jchaves506](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@jchaves506](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jchaves506)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-the-other-way-around/258653/1 "2020-12-14T23:19:10Z")

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Hello  
does anyone knows how can I only read files older\_than = XX, something like an include\_older.  
Right now I'm reading files with name format log\_date.txt, the problem is that I don't want to be reading files that are being used, I'm wondering if there is a way to read files only when the last modification date is older than XX.  
thanks

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**Author:** ![mtojek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mtojek/32/63863_2.png) [@mtojek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mtojek)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 8:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-the-other-way-around/258653/2 "2020-12-15T08:30:27Z")

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It might be hard to determine if a file is currently used or not (might be a temporary break from writing). What do you think about renaming files so they can be ingested (a different filename pattern)?

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**Author:** ![jchaves506](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@jchaves506](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jchaves506)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-the-other-way-around/258653/3 "2020-12-15T20:21:14Z")

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thanks,  
I know... how does the Ignore\_older works? does it looks for the Last Modified date and ignore if bigger than something (compared to the actual time)? I would like to have something like that, but doing that comparison to start reading... my other alternative is copying the files to a different folder using a batch script, but I was hoping I could avoid relying on a third app.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-the-other-way-around/258653/4 "2021-01-12T22:21:42Z")

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