Change last modified time of a file or directory

This example shows how to get and set the last modified time of a file or directory.

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

public class FileUtil {

  public void changeFiletime(String filename) {

    File fileToChange = new File(filename);

    //Check time of the file/directory
    Date filetime = new Date(fileToChange.lastModified());
    System.out.println(filetime.toString());

    //Change time to current
    if (fileToChange.setLastModified(System.currentTimeMillis()))
      System.out.println("Success!");
    else
      System.out.println("Failed!");

    //Check time again
    filetime = new Date(fileToChange.lastModified());
    System.out.println(filetime.toString());

  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    FileUtil fileutil = new FileUtil();
    fileutil.changeFiletime("C:\\\\temp\\\\myfile.txt");
  }
}

Do you know your Java?
Take a Ten-Question-Java-Quiz!

Bookmark:

Search for code examples on this site