Cost of file modification time checks

Question

For a file containing few bytes under Linux, I need only to process when it was changed since the last time it was processed. I check whether the file was changed by calling PHP clearstatcache(); filemtime(); periodically. Since the entire file will always be tiny, would it be a performance improvement to remove the call to filemtime and check for a file change by comparing the contents with the past contents? Or what is the best method for that, in terms of performance.

Answer 1

Use filemtime + clearstatcache

To enhance @Ben_D's test:

<?php

$file = 'small_file.html';
$loops = 1000000;

// filesize (fast)
$start_time = microtime(1);
for ($i = 0; $i < $loops; $i++) {
    $file_size = filesize($file);
}
$end_time = microtime(1);
$time_for_file_size = $end_time - $start_time;

// filemtime (fastest)
$start_time = microtime(1);
for ($i = 0; $i < $loops; $i++) {
    $file_mtime = filemtime($file);
}
$end_time = microtime(1);
$time_for_filemtime = $end_time - $start_time;

// filemtime + no cache (fast and reliable)
$start_time = microtime(1);
for ($i = 0; $i < $loops; $i++) {
    clearstatcache();
    $file_mtime_nc = filemtime($file);
}
$end_time = microtime(1);
$time_for_filemtime_nc = $end_time - $start_time;

// file_get_contents  (slow and reliable)
$start_time = microtime(1);
for ($i = 0; $i < $loops; $i++) {
    $file_contents = file_get_contents($file);
}
$end_time = microtime(1);
$time_for_file_get_contents = $end_time - $start_time;

// output
echo "
<p>Working on file '$file'</p>
<p>Size: $file_size B</p>
<p>last modified timestamp: $file_mtime</p>
<p>file contents: $file_contents</p>

<h1>Profile</h1>
<p>filesize: $time_for_file_size</p>
<p>filemtime: $time_for_filemtime</p>
<p>filemtime + no cache: $time_for_filemtime_nc</p>
<p>file_get_contents: $time_for_file_get_contents</p>";

/* End of file */

Answer 2

I know I'm late to the party, but a little benchmarking never hurt a discussion. Brian Roach's intuition proves sounds, even before you take into account the comparison step:

The Test:

$file = "small_file.html";
$file_size = filesize($file);

//get the filemtime 1,000,000 times
$start_time = microtime(true);
for($i=0;$i<1000000;$i++){
    $set_time = filemtime($file);
}
$end_time = microtime(true);

$time_for_filemtime = ($end_time-$start_time);

//get the time for file_get_contents 1,000,000 times
$start_time = microtime(true);
$file = "small_file.html";
for($i=0;$i<1000000;$i++){
    $set_time = file_get_contents($file);
}
$end_time = microtime(true);

$time_for_file_get_contents = ($end_time-$start_time);

echo "<p>Working on a file that is $file_size B long</p>
<p>filemtime: $time_for_filemtime vs file_get_contents: $time_for_file_get_contents";

The Results

Working on a file that is 41 B long

filemtime: 0.36287999153137 vs file_get_contents: 16.191468000412

No shocker: "asking the file system for some metadata" is faster than "opening the file, reading it in, and comparing the contents."