foreach my $item (@theseContents) {
      if (!($item =~ /\.zip$/)) {
           if (!($item =~ /^\./)) {
               my $temp = $thisDirectory.$item;
               if (-d $temp) {
                   .......
               }
           }
      }
}

##</code><code>##

foreach my $item(@theseContents){
    next unless ($item =~ /\.zip$/);
    next unless ($item =~ /^\./);
    ..... rest_of_code ......
}

##</code><code>##

my $file = shift; #grab the first arg to the sub
my $todayfile = sprintf("%02d%02d%02d\.log", 
                           $times[5]-100,$times[4]+1,
                           $times[3]);
#then your exit routine