Could you not just change:
>if (system ("ls /var/log/copfilter/default/opt/p3scan/quarantine
> >/dev/null 2>&1") eq 0 )
to
if (system ("ls -rt /var/log/copfilter/default/opt/p3scan/quarantine
>/dev/null 2>&1") eq 0 )
Ie make 'ls' output it in reverse chronological time.
j