Question

In Bash the -nt test compares Modify time

-nt newer than (modification date-time of file)

like here

if [ file_a -nt file_b ]; then
fi

Is there a way to compare Access time or Change time?

Answer 1

You’ll have to use stat to access the atime and ctime:

nt () {
    local OPTIND
    local fmt="%Y"
    while getopts "amc" opt; do
        case "$opt" in
            a) fmt="%X" ;;
            m) fmt="%Y" ;;
            c) fmt="%Z" ;;
        esac
    done
    shift $(( OPTIND - 1))
    [[ $(stat -c "$fmt" "$1") > $(stat -c "$fmt" "$2") ]]
}

if nt -c file_a file_b; then
    echo file_a has a newer ctime than file_b
fi