With your helpful suggestions I have modified my code as follows. Better? I hope so. =] 
#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

use File::Copy;

# change source backup dir, modification time, and destination backup 
+dir here
my $srcdir = '/var/local/somedir';
my $mtime = '1';
my $destdir = '/backup/somedir';

die "Error:$!" unless (-d $srcdir && -d $destdir );

print "Beginning backup...\n";

chdir $srcdir;
opendir(INDIR,$srcdir) || die "Can't open directory: $!";

while ($_ = readdir(INDIR)) {

        next if (-d || $_ eq "." || $_ eq "..");

        if (-M > $mtime) {
                print "$_ : Older than one day.\n";
        } else {
                system("tar -cz $_ -f $_.tar.gz");
                move(<*.gz>, $destdir) && print "$_ archived in $destd
+ir\n";
        }

}
closedir(INDIR);
print "Backup complete.\n";

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In reply to Re: Is this the most elegant way to code directory lookup? by texasperl
in thread Is this the most elegant way to code directory lookup? by texasperl

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