Get the latest file addition in a directory

Question

How to get the latest file name, or the file path that is added into a directory?

filectime is for when metadata like chmod values are changed. filemtime is for actual content change. — Ole Sørensen, Jul 30 '13 at 16:50
To clear up any confusion: The [`c` in `filectime()` does not stand for `creation`](https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.filectime.php) and the [`C` in `getCTime()` does not stand for `creation`](https://www.php.net/manual/en/splfileinfo.getctime.php) — mickmackusa, May 31 '23 at 07:22

score 59 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 30 '12 at 04:10

59

$path = "/path/to/my/dir"; 

$latest_ctime = 0;
$latest_filename = '';    

$d = dir($path);
while (false !== ($entry = $d->read())) {
  $filepath = "{$path}/{$entry}";
  // could do also other checks than just checking whether the entry is a file
  if (is_file($filepath) && filectime($filepath) > $latest_ctime) {
    $latest_ctime = filectime($filepath);
    $latest_filename = $entry;
  }
}

// now $latest_filename contains the filename of the file that changed last

edited Oct 30 '12 at 04:10

nooitaf

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answered Sep 29 '09 at 07:34

kkyy

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[ctime is not creation time](http://userprimary.net/posts/2007/11/18/ctime-in-unix-means-last-change-time-not-create-time/) – kojiro Jan 12 '12 at 21:46
1

any new method for fastest searching or scan? – Muhaimin Jan 14 '15 at 03:17
@Muhaimin Abdul Try scandir() ~ PHP 5 – Dennis Heiden Mar 08 '16 at 10:03
2

As others have mentioned in other answers... should probably be using `filemtime` instead of `filectime`. a) it's more widely supported across platforms. b) It returns what you're probably wanting: the time that the file was last modified – Brad Kent Apr 07 '16 at 14:04

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 28 '12 at 19:14

6

$dir = dirname(__FILE__).DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
$lastMod = 0;
$lastModFile = '';
foreach (scandir($dir) as $entry) {
    if (is_file($dir.$entry) && filectime($dir.$entry) > $lastMod) {
        $lastMod = filectime($dir.$entry);
        $lastModFile = $entry;
    }
}

edited Aug 28 '12 at 19:14

Bot

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answered Sep 29 '09 at 07:33

NDM

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frank · Answer 3 · 2012-08-09T14:02:37.687

$dir = "/path/to/Your/dir";         
$pattern = '\.(zip|ZIP|pdf|PDF)$'; // check only file with these ext.          
$newstamp = 0;            
$newname = "";

if ($handle = opendir($dir)) {               
       while (false !== ($fname = readdir($handle)))  {            
         // Eliminate current directory, parent directory            
         if (ereg('^\.{1,2}$',$fname)) continue;            
         // Eliminate other pages not in pattern            
         if (! ereg($pattern,$fname)) continue;            
         $timedat = filemtime("$dir/$fname");            
         if ($timedat > $newstamp) {
            $newstamp = $timedat;
            $newname = $fname;
          }
         }
        }
closedir ($handle);

// $newstamp is the time for the latest file
// $newname is the name of the latest file
// print last mod.file - format date as you like            
print $newname . " - " . date( "Y/m/d", $newstamp);

This uses a depreciated function: ereg() – Ryan Bayne Aug 01 '14 at 15:42 — Ryan Bayne, Aug 01 '14 at 15:42

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 08 '19 at 17:09

Here's how you can do it using DirectoryIterator:

foreach(new DirectoryIterator('/path/to/read') as $item) {
    if ($item->isFile() && (empty($file) || $item->getMTime() > $file->getMTime())) {
        $file = clone $item;
    }
}

The resulting contents of $file is an instance of the DirectoryIterator class and as such you have access to all of it's methods. To simply get the full path of the result you can do:

echo $file->getPathname();

score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 21 '17 at 09:48

1

My solution with PHP 5:

$dir = "/path/to/Your/dir"; 
$arraydir =scandir($dir, 1);
echo "arraydir 0: " . $arraydir[0] . "<br/>"; // 1. new file
echo "arraydir 1: " . $arraydir[1] . "<br/>"; // 2. new file
echo "arraydir elements: " . count($arraydir) . "<br/>";

(search words DE: neuste und zweitneuste Datei eines Ordners anzeigen mit PHP )

edited Jul 21 '17 at 09:48

Odin Thunder

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answered Jul 21 '17 at 08:42

Macci001

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This sorts by name, will work only if you have alphabetically sortable timestamps in the filename, like `exported_data_20170721.csv` – user Oct 10 '18 at 14:23

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 29 '09 at 07:13

0

Enumerate all directory files, get the filemtime() of each and you are done.

answered Sep 29 '09 at 07:13

Vladislav Rastrusny

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1

I think you rather need `filectime`. – Gumbo Sep 29 '09 at 07:17
1

@Gumbo: why use filectime instead of filemtime. I see filemtime() work better on a multitude of platforms while filectime() does not seem to work properly on all Windows servers. – secretlm Jun 19 '13 at 10:17
1

@secretlm `filectime` probably doesn't work because its only the creation time of the file, not the modification time – FluorescentGreen5 Jun 12 '17 at 07:16

Get the latest file addition in a directory

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