Java.io.File.setLastModified() Method

Description

The java.io.File.setLastModified(long time) method sets the last modifed date of the file indicated by abstract pathname.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for java.io.File.setLastModified(long time) method:

public boolean setLastModified(long time)

Parameters

• time -- The new last-modified time in milliseconds since the epoch.

Return Value

This method returns true if the operation succeeded, else false.

Exception

• SecurityException -- If a security manager exists and its method denies write access to either the old or new pathnames.

Example

The following example shows the usage of java.io.File.setLastModified(long time) method.

package com.tutorialspoint;

import java.io.File;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

public class FileDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      
      File f = null;
      boolean bool = false;
      int year, month, day;
      long millisec;
      Date dt;
      
      try{      
         // create new File object
         f = new File("C:/test.txt");
         
         // date components
         year=2013; 
         month=04; 
         day=15;
         
         // date in string
         String s = year+"/"+month+"/"+day;
         
         // date format
         SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy/mm/dd");
         
         // parse string to date object
         dt = sdf.parse(s);
         
         // calculate milliseconds
         millisec = dt.getTime();
         
         // returns true if file exists
         bool = f.exists();
         
         // if file exists
         if(bool)
         {
            // set last modified time
            bool = f.setLastModified(millisec);
            
            // print
            System.out.println("lastModified() succeeded?: "+bool);
            
            // last modified time
            millisec = f.lastModified();
            
            // calculate date object
            dt = new Date(millisec);
            
            // prints
            System.out.print("File was last modified on: "+dt);
         }      
      }catch(Exception e){
         // if any error occurs
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result:

lastModified() succeeded?: true
File was last modified on: Tue Jan 15 00:04:00 IST 2013