How to change the file last modified date in Java

Here’s an example to show the use of File.setLastModified() to change the file’s last modified date. This method accept the new modified date in milliseconds (long type), some data type conversion are required.

package org.best.example.file;

import java.io.File;
import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
 
public class ChangeFileLastModifiedExample
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    { 
 
     try{
 
      File file = new File("C:\\logfile.log");
 
      //print the original last modified date
      SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
      System.out.println("Original Last Modified Date : " 
        + sdf.format(file.lastModified()));
 
      //set this date 
      String newLastModified = "01/31/1998";
 
      //need convert the above date to milliseconds in long value 
      Date newDate = sdf.parse(newLastModified);
      file.setLastModified(newDate.getTime());
 
      //print the latest last modified date
      System.out.println("Lastest Last Modified Date : " 
        + sdf.format(file.lastModified()));
 
     }catch(ParseException e){
 
      e.printStackTrace();
 
     }
 
    }
}