#!/usr/bin/perl

my %hash;

while (<DATA>) {
    my ($input_file, $time, $date) = split ' ';

    # determine common part of file names
    my $common = $input_file;
    $common =~ s/^\d+//;   # remove leading number

    # collect info (name, timestamp) in hash, keyed by common part of 
+file names
    push @{$hash{$common}}, [ $input_file, sprintf("%s %6d",$date,$tim
+e) ];
}

# use Data::Dumper;
# print Dumper \%hash;  # debug

for my $k (keys %hash) {  # for all file sets

    # sort by timestamp
    my @files = sort {$b->[1] cmp $a->[1]} @{$hash{$k}};
    
    # remove most recent file (the one to keep) from list
    shift @files;

    # delete remaining (older) files
    unlink map $_->[0], @files;
}

__DATA__
508.ids.xml    70857 2004-10-02
1508.ids.xml   70859 2004-10-02
1509.id123.xml 2000 2004-10-02
1400.id123.xml 4000 2004-10-01

[download]

(I left out the XML stuff, as the OP doesn't seem to have problems with that part.)

In reply to Re: Delete the file with checking the value by almut
in thread Delete the file with checking the value by Anonymous Monk

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