diff --git a/last/last.go b/last/last.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6abfc01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/last/last.go
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+package last
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"log"
+	"path/filepath"
+
+	cmdpkg "github.com/brtholomy/um/go/cmd"
+	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/flags"
+)
+
+const cmd = cmdpkg.Last
+
+const (
+	GLOB = "[0-9]*.md"
+	// we only care about the number group:
+	NOT_FOUND_MSG = "um files not found: " + GLOB
+)
+
+type options struct {
+	Help flags.Flag[bool]
+}
+
+func initOpts() options {
+	return options{
+		flags.Flag[bool]{"--help", "-h", false, "show help"},
+	}
+}
+
+func parseArgs(args []string) options {
+	opts := initOpts()
+	for _, arg := range args {
+		switch {
+		case arg == opts.Help.Long || arg == opts.Help.Short:
+			flags.Help(cmd, opts)
+		default:
+			flags.HelpInvalidArg(cmd, arg)
+			flags.Help(cmd, opts)
+		}
+	}
+	return opts
+}
+
+// get the lexical last file from GLOB
+func GlobLast(glob string) (string, error) {
+	// NOTE: filepath.Glob is more reliable than a manual ls call:
+	filelist, err := filepath.Glob(glob)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	if len(filelist) == 0 {
+		return "", errors.New(NOT_FOUND_MSG)
+	}
+	return filelist[len(filelist)-1], nil
+}
+
+func Last(args []string) {
+	_ = parseArgs(args)
+	s, err := GlobLast(GLOB)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatalf("um %s: %v", cmdpkg.Last, err)
+	}
+	// send to stdout, not stderr as is default for log.Print:
+	fmt.Println(s)
+}
diff --git a/next/last.go b/next/last.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 7363c56..0000000
--- a/next/last.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-package next
-
-import (
-	"errors"
-	"fmt"
-	"log"
-	"path/filepath"
-	"regexp"
-
-	cmdpkg "github.com/brtholomy/um/go/cmd"
-)
-
-const (
-	GLOB = "[0-9]*.md"
-	// we only care about the number group:
-	FILE_REGEXP   = `(?m)^([0-9]+)\.[[:alpha:]]*\.*md$`
-	NOT_FOUND_MSG = "um files not found: " + GLOB
-)
-
-var fileRegexp *regexp.Regexp = regexp.MustCompile(FILE_REGEXP)
-
-// get the lexical last file from GLOB
-func last() (string, error) {
-	// NOTE: filepath.Glob is more reliable than a manual ls call:
-	filelist, err := filepath.Glob(GLOB)
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-	if len(filelist) == 0 {
-		return "", errors.New(NOT_FOUND_MSG)
-	}
-	return filelist[len(filelist)-1], nil
-}
-
-func Last() {
-	s, err := last()
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("um %s: %v", cmdpkg.Last, err)
-	}
-	// send to stdout, not stderr as is default for log.Print:
-	fmt.Println(s)
-}
diff --git a/next/next.go b/next/next.go
index 25cb422..e83abe2 100644
--- a/next/next.go
+++ b/next/next.go
@@ -5,14 +5,20 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"os/exec"
+	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 
 	cmdpkg "github.com/brtholomy/um/go/cmd"
 	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/flags"
+	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/last"
 )
 
 const cmd = cmdpkg.Next
 
+const FILE_REGEXP = `(?m)^([0-9]+)\.[[:alpha:]]*\.*md$`
+
+var fileRegexp *regexp.Regexp = regexp.MustCompile(FILE_REGEXP)
+
 type options struct {
 	Descriptor flags.Arg
 	Tags       flags.Arg
@@ -47,11 +53,11 @@ func parseArgs(args []string) options {
 
 // takes the complete last file string
 // returns the number as string
-func numFromLast(last string) (string, error) {
-	res := fileRegexp.FindStringSubmatch(last)
+func numFromLast(l string) (string, error) {
+	res := fileRegexp.FindStringSubmatch(l)
 	num := ""
 	if len(res) < 2 {
-		return num, errors.New(NOT_FOUND_MSG)
+		return num, errors.New(last.NOT_FOUND_MSG)
 	}
 	num = res[1]
 	return num, nil
@@ -108,7 +114,7 @@ func emacsNext(f string, tags string) error {
 
 func Next(args []string) {
 	opts := parseArgs(args)
-	l, err := last()
+	l, err := last.GlobLast(last.GLOB)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("um %s: %v", cmd, err)
 	}
diff --git a/tag/parse.go b/tag/parse.go
index 0d309ce..897f774 100644
--- a/tag/parse.go
+++ b/tag/parse.go
@@ -14,9 +14,6 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	// TODO: source in common with last.go
-	GLOB = "[0-9]*.md"
-
 	// The layout string must be a representation of:
 	// Jan 2 15:04:05 2006 MST
 	// 1   2  3  4  5    6  -7
diff --git a/tag/tag.go b/tag/tag.go
index 2ddc313..abd74a0 100644
--- a/tag/tag.go
+++ b/tag/tag.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 
 	cmdpkg "github.com/brtholomy/um/go/cmd"
 	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/flags"
+	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/last"
 )
 
 // just so that copied calls into flags.Help don't have to be adjusted between files:
@@ -54,7 +55,7 @@ func parseArgs(args []string) options {
 func Tag(args []string) {
 	opts := parseArgs(args)
 	queries := parseQuery(opts.Query.Val)
-	entries := entriesGlobOrStdin(GLOB)
+	entries := entriesGlobOrStdin(last.GLOB)
 
 	// we shrink the entries list immediately if we want a date range:
 	if opts.Date.IsSet() {
diff --git a/um.go b/um.go
index 7ee58fd..6f57d20 100644
--- a/um.go
+++ b/um.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 
 	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/cmd"
+	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/last"
 	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/next"
 	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/sort"
 	"github.com/brtholomy/um/go/tag"
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ func main() {
 	case cmd.Next:
 		next.Next(args)
 	case cmd.Last:
-		next.Last()
+		last.Last(args)
 	case cmd.Tag:
 		tag.Tag(args)
 	case cmd.Sort: