Tips & Tricks

Update a date stamp in the current file on save

[!CAUTION] Add separator T between date and time to match ISO-8601 ¹.

    #timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
    timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S")

[!TIP] Use updated UpdateTimestamp.py that supports JSON style too.

This version is expanded to update @modified, @release, and @revision.

The most reliable approach is the PythonScript plugin, using Notepad++’s FILEBEFORESAVE event. This updates the text immediately before Notepad++ writes the file. PythonScript supports persistent callbacks for document save events. ([Super User][1])

1. Add a timestamp marker

Place this anywhere in the file:

//* @modified 2000-01-01 00:00:00

The text preceding @modified can be any comment syntax, for example:

//* @modified 2000-01-01 00:00:00

// @modified 2000-01-01 00:00:00

<!-- @modified 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -->

2. Install PythonScript

Open:

Plugins → Plugins Admin

Install PythonScript and restart Notepad++.

Then select:

Plugins → Python Script → New Script

Save it as:

UpdateTimestamp.py

(i.e. "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\plugins\Config\PythonScript\scripts\UpdateTimestamp.py")

Insert the souce from UpdateTimestamp.py <!–

from datetime import datetime
from Npp import editor, notepad, NOTIFICATION


def update_timestamp_on_save(args):
    """
    Update the first line containing:

        @modified <timestamp>
    """

    timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")

    editor.rereplace(
        r"^([^\r\n]*?@modified[ \t]+).*$",
        lambda match: match.group(1) + timestamp,
        0,
        0,
        editor.getTextLength(),
        1
    )


notepad.callback(
    update_timestamp_on_save,
    [NOTIFICATION.FILEBEFORESAVE]
)

–>

editor.rereplace() performs a regular-expression replacement directly in the active document; the final argument limits it to the first matching line. ([GitHub][2])

3. Load it automatically

Open the PythonScript configuration:

Plugins → Python Script → Configuration

Set Initialisation to:

ALLSTARTUP

Then add this line to PythonScript’s startup.py (in ["C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\PythonScript\scripts\startup.py"]):

import UpdateTimestamp

Restart Notepad++. Every normal save of the current file, including Ctrl+S, will now update the timestamp before writing the file. This startup-registration pattern is also the documented solution used for save callbacks. ([Super User][1])

To restrict it to PHP files, add this at the beginning of update_timestamp_on_save():

    if not notepad.getCurrentFilename().lower().endswith(".php"):
        return

1. T is the time designator that precedes the time components of the duration representation ↩