compare file's date bash

Question

I\'m working on a tiny dropbox-like bash script, how can I compare the dates of 2 files and replace the old one(s) with the new one without using rsync is t

Answer 1

You can compare file modification times with test, using -nt (newer than) and -ot (older than) operators:

if [ "$file1" -ot "$file2" ]; then
    cp -f "$file2" "$file1"
fi