# How to change the file last modified date in Java

By Atta Ur Rehman Shah (https://attacomsian.com/about). Published Dec 12, 2019, updated Oct 13, 2022. Topics: Java.
Canonical URL: https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-change-file-last-modified-date

> A simple program to learn how to change the file last modified date in Java.

In Java 7 or higher, you can **change the file last modified date** by using `Files.setLastModifiedTime()` method as shown below:

```java
try {
    Path path = Paths.get("input.txt");

    // current last modified date
    System.out.println("Last Modified Date (before): " + Files.getLastModifiedTime(path));

    // change the last modified date to now
    Files.setLastModifiedTime(path, FileTime.fromMillis(new Date().getTime()));

    // updated last mdoified date
    System.out.println("Last Modified Date (after): " + Files.getLastModifiedTime(path));

} catch (IOException ex){
    ex.printStackTrace();
}
```

Here is the output of the above code:

```bash
Last Modified Date (before): 2022-10-01T18:20:11Z
Last Modified Date (after): 2022-10-12T08:10:12Z
```

In older Java versions (Java 6 or below), you can make use of `File.setLastModified()` to change the file's last modified date. This method accepts the new modified date in milliseconds. Here is an example:

```java
File file = new File("input.txt");

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm:ss");

// current last modified date
System.out.println("Last Modified Date (before): " + sdf.format(file.lastModified()));

// change last modified date to now
file.setLastModified(new Date().getTime());

// updated last mdoified date
System.out.println("Last Modified Date (after): " + sdf.format(file.lastModified()));
```

The above will print something like the below on the console:

```bash
Last Modified Date (before): 01-10-2022 13:16:52
Last Modified Date (after): 12-10-2022 13:18:07
```

## Further Reading

You may be interested in other Java I/O articles:

* [Reading and Writing Files in Java](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-read-write-files)
* [How to Read and Write Text Files in Java](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-read-write-text-files)
* [How to Read and Write Binary Files in Java](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-read-write-binary-files)
* [Reading and Writing Files using Java NIO API](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-read-write-files-nio-api)
* [How to read a file line by line in Java](https://attacomsian.com/blog/how-to-read-a-file-line-by-line-in-java)