PHP Filesystem fileatime() Function

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The PHP Filesystem fileatime() function is used to return the last access time of the specified file. The result of this function has cached. We can use the clearstatcache() function to clear the cache.

The access time of a file changes whenever the file is read. Some Unix systems turn off access time updates because updating them can slow down performance, mainly when many files are accessed frequently. Turning off these updates can improve performance.

Syntax

Below is the syntax of the PHP Filesystem fileatime() function −

int fileatime ( string $filename )

Parameters

The parameters are needed to use the fileatime() function are mentioned below −

Return Value

Returns the last time the file was accessed, or FALSE if it failed. The time will be given as a Unix timestamp.

PHP Version

The fileatime() function was first introduced as part of core PHP 4 and work well with the PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8.

Example

This PHP code checks and displays the last access time of a file with the help of the PHP Filesystem fileatime() function. Following is the simple demonstration of this example −

<?php
   echo fileatime("/PhpProject/sample.txt");
   echo "<br>";
   echo "Last access: ".date("F d Y H:i:s.",fileatime("/PhpProject/sample.txt"));
?>

Output

This will generate the below result −

1590217956
Last access: May 23 2020 09:12:36.

Example

This PHP code checks if a file exists and, if it exists then it should display the last time it was accessed using fileatime() function. Here is the simple demonstration of this example −

<?php
   $filename = "/PhpProject/sample.txt";
   if(file_exists($filename)) {
      echo "$filename was last accessed at: " . date("F d Y H:i:s.", fileatime($filename));
   }
?>

Output

This will create the below outcome −

/PhpProject/sample.txt was last accessed at: May 23 2020 09:12:36.

Example

This PHP example shows us how we can check the last access time for files listed in the array. It loops over each file and check if it exists and then prints the last access time if it does using the fileatime() function.

<?php
   // Make an array of file paths
   $files = ["/PhpProject/sample.txt", "/PhpProject/myfile.txt", "/PhpProject/my.php"];

   // Loop over the array of files
   foreach ($files as $file) {
      if (file_exists($file)) {
         echo "$file was last accessed at: " . date("F d Y H:i:s.", fileatime($file)) . "
";
      } else {
         echo "$file does not exist.<br>";
      }
   }
?> 

Output

This will produce the following result −

/PhpProject/sample.txt was last accessed at: May 30 2024 12:44:57.
/PhpProject/myfile.txt was last accessed at: May 30 2024 12:21:33.
/PhpProject/my.php was last accessed at: May 29 2024 11:47:25.

Example

In the below PHP code we will compare the access times of two files and use fileatime() function and print message accordingly.

<?php
   $file1 = "/PhpProject/sample.txt";
   $file2 = "/PhpProject/myfile.txt";

   if (file_exists($file1) && file_exists($file2)) {
      $time1 = fileatime($file1);
      $time2 = fileatime($file2);
      
      if ($time1 > $time2) {
         echo "$file1 was accessed recently than $file2.<br>";
      } elseif ($time1 < $time2) {
         echo "$file2 was accessed recently than $file1.<br>";
      } else {
         echo "$file1 and $file2 were accessed at the same time.<br>";
      }
   } else {
      echo "One or both files do not exist.<br>";
   }
?> 

Output

This will lead to the following outcome −

/PhpProject/sample.txt was accessed recently than /PhpProject/myfile.txt.

Note

The fileatime() function is useful for storing file access times; however, issues with performance should be noted on systems where frequent access time updates can impact performance.

Summary

In this chapter we have seen what is the fileatime() function and also seen some useful examples of fileatime().