title: Overhead of getting file metadata (last modified date)
body: <p>Am I correct in assuming that <code>java.io.File(file).lastModified()</code> will not cause the file itself to be loaded in any way and thus have minimal overhead? It's a really basic question, however I can't find any good information about it.</p>
  
  <p>And setting the last modified date should have nearly no overhead either right?</p>
  
  <p>If I understand it correctly this metadata is stored seperatedly from the file, so if I am not mistaken reading and writing this data shouldn't cost much, but just want to make sure as I would be using it as a central basis of a caching mechanism.</p>
  
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  <p>Based on the comments and replies so far, does that mean it would be more performant to do a directory listning with a filter for specifically my file only? As that <em>sounds</em> less performant IMHO. </p>