PHP Exercises : Get last modified information of a file

Last update on May 26 2025 13:17:36 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

15. File Last Modified Info

Write a PHP script to get last modified information of a file.

Sample filename : php-basic-exercises.php

Sample Solution:

PHP Code:

<?php
// Get the current file name using basename and $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']
$current_file_name = basename($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']);

// Get the last modification time of the current file
$file_last_modified = filemtime($current_file_name);

// Display the last modified time in a human-readable format
echo "Last modified " . date("l, dS F, Y, h:ia", $file_last_modified) . "\n";
?>

Explanation:

Get Current File Name:

The basename() function, combined with $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'], retrieves the name of the currently executing PHP file and stores it in $current_file_name.

Get Last Modification Time:

filemtime($current_file_name) gets the last modification timestamp of the current file and stores it in $file_last_modified.

Format Modification Time:

The date() function converts $file_last_modified to a human-readable format ("l, dS F, Y, h:ia"), showing the day of the week, day, month, year, and time with AM/PM.

Display Last Modified Time:

The echo statement outputs the formatted last modified date and time (e.g., "Last modified Monday, 25th October, 2024, 03:15pm").

Output:

Last modified Monday, 26th June, 2017, 02:06pm

Flowchart:

Note: The result may vary for your system date and time.

basename() function: The basename(path,suffix) function is used to get the filename from a path.

filemtime() function: The filemtime(filename) function is used to get the last time the file content was modified.

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a PHP script to scan a directory and list all files with their last modified dates sorted in descending order.
Write a PHP script to check file modification times and update any file older than a specified duration.
Write a PHP script to retrieve and format the last modified date of a file into a human-friendly string.
Write a PHP script to compare the last modified dates of multiple files and display the most recently updated file.

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PHP Code Editor:

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