Java Program to Change Last Modification Time of a File - GeeksforGeeks

22 Oct, 2020
Modifying the date of the file is possible through Java using the File class of Java i.e File.setLastModified() method
Java File Class
The File class is Java’s representation of a file or directory pathname. The File class contains several methods for working with the pathname, deleting and renaming files, creating new directories, listing the contents of a directory, and determining several common attributes of files and directories.
setLastModified Method
The setLastModified() function is a method that comes predefined in the Java File class. The function sets the last modified time of a file or directory. The function sets the last modified value of the file in milliseconds (long type).
Parameters – A string consisting of the new last-modified time in milliseconds.
Return value – It returns a boolean. (True if the operation succeeds, else false).
If the file doesn’t found in the system default date is printed as of 30/01/1970 as the default file is generated by the system.
Now to change the last modified date of a file, follow the given steps.  
First, use the SimpleDateFormat(“mm/dd/yyyy”) constructor to make a new SimpleDateFormat class instance.Then, construct a String object with the “mm/dd/yyyy” format.Use the parse(String) method of the SimpleDateFormat class to create a new Date object with the date value of the String we created.Finally, use File.setLastModified(Date.getTime()) method to set the new “Last Modified” date of our file.
First, use the SimpleDateFormat(“mm/dd/yyyy”) constructor to make a new SimpleDateFormat class instance.
Then, construct a String object with the “mm/dd/yyyy” format.
Use the parse(String) method of the SimpleDateFormat class to create a new Date object with the date value of the String we created.
Finally, use File.setLastModified(Date.getTime()) method to set the new “Last Modified” date of our file.
Java
// Java program to change last // modification time of a File  import java.io.File;import java.text.ParseException;import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;import java.util.Date;  public class GFG {        public static void main(String[] args)    {          try {              // Create an object of the File class            // Replace the file path with path of the file            // who's "last modified" date you want to change            File file = new File("/home/mayur/file.txt");              // Create an object of the SimpleDateFormat            // class            SimpleDateFormat sdf                = new SimpleDateFormat("mm/dd/yyyy");              // Print the current "last modified" date of the            // file            System.out.println(                "Original Last Modified Date : "                + sdf.format((long)file.lastModified()));              // Create a string containing a new date that            // has to be set as "last modified" date            String newLastModified = "10/10/2020";              // Convert this new date into milliseconds            // format (in long type)            Date newDate = sdf.parse(newLastModified);              // Set the new date as the "last modified"            // date of the our file            file.setLastModified(newDate.getTime());              // Print the updated "last modified" date            System.out.println(                "Latest Last Modified Date : "                + sdf.format(file.lastModified()));        }        catch (ParseException e) {              // In case of any errors            e.printStackTrace();        }    }}
Output:
Java-File Class
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