How can I tell when a MySQL table was last updated?

Question

In the footer of my page, I would like to add something like \"last updated the xx/xx/200x\" with this date being the last time a certain mySQL table has been updated.

Answer 1

I don't have information_schema database, using mysql version 4.1.16, so in this case you can query this:

SHOW TABLE STATUS FROM your_database LIKE 'your_table';

It will return these columns:

| Name      | Engine | Version | Row_format | Rows | Avg_row_length 
| Data_length | Max_data_length | Index_length | Data_free | Auto_increment 
| Create_time         | Update_time         | Check_time | Collation         
| Checksum | Create_options | Comment |

As you can see there is a column called: "Update_time" that shows you the last update time for your_table.