PHP filectime() Function

The PHP filectime() function returns the time when the file was last changed. This function checks for inode changes as well as regular changes.

Note: The results of this function are cached. Use clearstatcache() function to clear the cache.

Note: In most Unix filesystems, a file is considered changed when its inode data is changed; that is, when the permissions, owner, group, or other metadata from the inode is changed.

Syntax

filectime(filename)

Parameters

filename Required. Specify the path to the file to check.

Return Value

Returns the time the file was last changed, or false on failure. The time is returned as a Unix timestamp, which is suitable for the date() function.

Exceptions

Upon failure, an E_WARNING is thrown.

Example:

Lets assume that we have a file called test.txt in the current working directory. The example below demonstrates on using this function to get the time when this file was last changed.

<?php
$filename = 'test.txt';

//getting the time when $filename 
//was last changed
if (file_exists($filename)) {
  echo "$filename was last changed: "
       .date("F d Y H:i:s.", filectime($filename));
} else {
  echo "$filename is not found.";
}
?>

The output of the above code will be:

test.txt was last changed: September 01 2021 12:39:23.

❮ PHP Filesystem Reference