IntelliJ: Dynamically updated file header

Question

By default, IntelliJ Idea will insert (something like) the following as the header of a new source file:

/**
 * Created by JohnDoe on 2016-04-27.
 */

The corresponding template is:

/**
 * Created by ${USER} on ${DATE}.
 */

Is it possible to update this template so that it inserts the last date of modification when the file is changed? For example:

/**
 * Created by JohnDoe on 2016-03-27.
 * Last modified by JaneDoe on 2016-04-27
 */

Answer 1

Here's a working solution similar to what I'm using. Tested on mac os.

1. Create a bash script which will replace first occurrence of Last modified by JaneDoe on $DATE only if the exact value is not contained in the file:

   #!/bin/bash
   
   FILE=src/java/test/Test.java
   DATE=`date '+%Y-%m-%d'`
   PREFIX="Last modified by JaneDoe on "
   STRING="$PREFIX.*$"
   SUBSTITUTE="$PREFIX$DATE"
   if ! grep -q "$SUBSTITUTE" "$FILE"; then
     sed -i '' "1,/$(echo "$STRING")/ s/$(echo "$STRING")/$(echo "$SUBSTITUTE")/" $FILE
   fi
   

2. Install File Watchers plugin.

3. Create a file watcher with appropriate scope (it may be this single file or any other scope, so that any change in project's source code will update modified date or version etc.) and put a path to your bash script into Program field.

Now every time the file changes the date will update. If you want to update date for each file separately, an argument $FilePath$ should be passed to the script.