File date attribute

[Bruce R Graham]

Hi: am a Newbie and this is my first script:
We were recently burgled and had our computers stolen. Easy to replace,
but the data that was lost is years and years of work. I've
investigated offsite data backup but it seems expensive. In any case,
the data we have is not volumous.
Rather, would like to send emails of files to a backup address at
gmail.
So, this is my plan:
Run a script in cron.daily. The script should check a timestamp placed
by the last occurrence of that script. Then check my home folder for
files modified between that timestamp and now. Then send those files
off to gmail.
I have most of the pieces in place, except I can't find out how to
retrieve the date modified attribute of a file. Does anybody know how
to do that?
I'll post the full script when I'm done in case there is anybody who
would like to use it.
Kindest,
BG