Question

Is there a way to select only the last file in a directory (with the extensions jpg|png|gif?)

Or do I have to parse the entire directory and check using filemtime?

Answer 1

Yes you have to read through them all. But since directory accesses are cached, you shouldn’t really worry about it.

$files = array_merge(glob("img/*.png"), glob("img/*.jpg"));
$files = array_combine($files, array_map("filemtime", $files));
arsort($files);

$latest_file = key($files);