Get newer or latest files in a directory.

getlatest.pl

use Time::Local;
use POSIX qw(strftime);
sub getlatest {

    my $dir = shift;
    my $pattern = shift;

    my $dh;

    $dir =~ s|/\z||;

    my $today = timelocal(0, 0, 12, (localtime)[3..5]);
    my $yesterday = $today - 24 * 60 * 60;
    my $today_stamp = strftime("%d%m%Y", localtime($today));
    my $yesterday_stamp = strftime("%d%m%Y", localtime($yesterday));

    my $filename = $dir . "/" . $pattern . "_messages_" . $today_stamp . ".log";
    $filename = $dir . "/" . $pattern . "_messages_" . $yesterday_stamp .
        ".log" if (! -e $filename);
    return $filename;
}

getnewer.pl

sub getnewer {
    my $dir = shift;
    my $pattern = shift;

    my $dh;

    $dir =~ s|/\z||;

    opendir($dh, $dir) or die "Cannot open $dir: $!\n";
    my @files = map { [ stat "$dir/$_", $_ ] } grep(! /^\.\.?$/, readdir($dh));
    closedir($dh);

    sub revbydate { $b->[9] <=> $a->[9] }

    my @sorted = sort revbydate @files;

    my @latest;
    for (my $i=0;$i<4;$i++) {
        my @newest = @{$sorted[$i]};
        my $name = pop(@newest);
        push(@latest, $name);
    }

    my $filename = join ",", grep(/^$pattern/i, @latest);
    return $dir . "/" . $filename;
}