find_latest_files.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
#  The following script finds the 
#  latest (edited or created) 10 files
#  on a Linux system. It runs quite 
#  quickly.
#
find . -type f -printf "%C@ %p\n" | sort -rn | head -n 10

#
#  The same command above can be turned into
#  a simple function, as follows:
#
function find_latest() {
    if [ -z "$1" ]
    then
        echo "No path provided, using local path."
        PATH = .
    else
        PATH = $1  
    fi
    
    if [ -z "$2" ]
    then 
        LINES = 10
    else 
        LINES = $2
    fi
    find $PATH -type f -printf "%C@ %p\n" | sort -rn | head -n $LINES
}