What is the common mistake made when comparing file modification dates in PHP?

When comparing file modification dates in PHP, a common mistake is comparing them as strings rather than as timestamps. This can lead to incorrect results, as string comparisons may not accurately reflect the chronological order of the dates. To solve this issue, you should convert the file modification dates to timestamps using the `filemtime()` function before comparing them. 

$file1 = 'file1.txt';
$file2 = 'file2.txt';

$timestamp1 = filemtime($file1);
$timestamp2 = filemtime($file2);

if ($timestamp1 < $timestamp2) {
    echo "$file1 was modified before $file2";
} elseif ($timestamp1 > $timestamp2) {
    echo "$file2 was modified before $file1";
} else {
    echo "Both files were modified at the same time";
}

Keywords

file modification dates comparison PHP strtotime date_format

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