When using the filemtime() function if i set a var in the script to the file to be tested it works fine, if i read the exat sme data in from an outside file it give a stat warning. Note this happens if i use a relitve or abosulte path.
Below is the code and output to demonstrate:


baseinfo
PHP Version 4.3.0-dev
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Test code
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 <?php 
print "<HR>baseinfo<BR>"; 
print ("PHP Version ".phpversion()); 
print "<HR>Test code<HR>"; 
show_source(__FILE__); 
print "<HR>Test Case<BR><HR>Using inside var<HR>"; 
$line2 = 'file=./webcam.jpg'; 
list ($id2,$value2) = split("=",$line2); 
$file_2 = $value2; 
print "got setting $value2<BR>";     
print filemtime($file_2); 
print "<HR>Using read in var<HR>"; 
$settings = file("./webstat.ini"); 
$line = $settings[0]; 
list($id,$value) = split("=",$line); 
$file = $value; 
print "got setting $value<BR>"; 
print filemtime($file); 
print "<BR>"; 
?> 

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Test Case

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Using inside var
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got setting ./webcam.jpg
1033559117
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Using read in var
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got setting ./file.txt 

Warning: filemtime() [function.filemtime]: Stat failed for ./file.txt (errno=2 - No such file or directory) in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\webcam\test_case.php on line 18