How Can I Sort Files by Modification Date in PHP?

Sorting Files by Date in PHP

You can acquire a list of files residing in the same directory and display their respective names and timestamps using the filemtime() function. This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to sort the output by the latest modified file.

Sorting Algorithm Using Globbing and usort()

To retrieve all files with a specific extension within a specified path, you can employ the glob() function. Once you have the array of files, use the usort() function to organize them based on their modification timestamp.

$files = glob('path/to/files/*.swf');
usort($files, function($a, $b) {
    return filemtime($b) - filemtime($a);
});

Alternative Sorting Method Using array_multisort()

An alternative approach involves utilizing the array_multisort() function along with the filemtime() function to sort the file array based on timestamps.

$files = array_merge(glob('path/to/files/*.swf'), glob('path/to/files/*.jpg'));
array_multisort(array_map('filemtime', $files), SORT_DESC, $files);

Looping Through the Sorted Files

Subsequently, you can iterate over the sorted array to display the file information, including names and timestamps.

foreach ($files as $file) {
    echo "$file - " . date('F d Y, H:i:s', filemtime($file)) . "<br>";
}

By implementing these sorting techniques, you can organize your files effectively based on their modification dates.

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