How long (in seconds) since a file has been modified?

[Kris Spander]

Hello,

Anybody know a way to tell how long ago a file was modified. The ls -l output is very cumbersome.

TIA,
Kris

[A. Clay Stephenson · Accepted solution]

The key to your problem is a combination of the perl time() function - which yields the current epoch seconds and the stat() function. The difference between time() and stat()'s mtime value is your boy - OR - you can simply use this Perl program.

fileage.pl -S myfile

The time since last modification will be output in seconds.

That should fix you, Clay

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Ooops, I should have mentioned "invoke as fileage.pl -u for full usage." It will also optionally look at the last access or last change times.

[Kris Spander]

Thanks. That was perfect :-)

[H.Merijn Brand (procura]

Or simply

# perl -le'print 86400*-M shift' file

Enjoy, have FUN! H.Merijn

[H.Merijn Brand (procura]

Clay and Kris, to explain above (which is both easier and faster than stat): -M give the age of the file in days (and fractions of days) to the time the script started (also available and $^T). A day has 86400 seconds (24*60*60), so 86400*-M file is the age of the file in seconds to the time the script started (now).

Enjoy, have FUN! H.Merijn