#!/bin/sh files_to_check=$1 command_to_run=$2 the_destination=$3 echo "# looking for files matching $files_to_check" # ls -t sorts files by last modification time, most recent to oldest ls -t $files_to_check | ( # the first line will be the most recent file read the_most_recent_file echo "# do nothing with the most recent file: $the_most_recent_file" # the rest of the lines will not be the most recent file echo "# do something with the rest of the files" while read not_the_most_recent_file do echo $command_to_run $not_the_most_recent_file $the_destination done )