Lua

Get a Remote FTP File's Last-Modified Time by Name

Demonstrates the Chilkat Ftp2.GetLastModifiedTimeByNameStr method, which returns the last-modified time of a named item in the current remote directory as an RFC 822 date-time string. The only argument is the filename.

Background: This queries one item's modification time directly (typically via MDTM) rather than pulling and scanning a whole listing — efficient when you already know the filename and just need its timestamp, for example to decide whether a local copy is stale. The RFC 822 string includes a timezone offset, so the moment is unambiguous.

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Lua

local chilkat = require("chilkat")

-- Demonstrates the Ftp2.GetLastModifiedTimeByNameStr method, which returns the last-modified time
-- of a named item in the current remote directory as an RFC 822 date-time string.  The only
-- argument is the filename.

local ftp = chilkat.Ftp2.new()

ftp.hostname = "ftp.example.com"
ftp.username = "myFtpLogin"

-- Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
-- from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
ftp.password = "myPassword"

local success = ftp:connect()
if not success then
    print(ftp.last_error_text)
    return
end

success = ftp:change_remote_dir("public_html")
if not success then
    print(ftp.last_error_text)
    return
end

local lastModified = ftp:get_last_modified_time_by_name_str("report.pdf")
if not ftp.last_method_success then
    print(ftp.last_error_text)
    return
end

print("Last modified: " .. lastModified)

success = ftp:disconnect()
if not success then
    print(ftp.last_error_text)
    return
end