finding time when url was modified

[Peter Hansen]

Ajay wrote:
> is it possible for someone to change the Last-Modified header? Can someone
> put a new updated document, but in such a way that if someone requests
> that document, they get an old date rather than the new date?
> i can see a CGI script add its own header and then write out the document.
> but can this be done with a simple HTML page?

Certainly... the server can do anything it wants with that
header, including failing to provide it, providing an invalid
date, providing a date in the future or distant past, or
even providing a date that happens to correspond exactly
with the true "last modified" date of the document...

Whether a *particular* server will do that with a *particular*
kind of document is a different question altogether.

Do you have a specific situation involving this that you
can describe, or are you just asking in general, out of
curiosity?

-Peter