Re: File-write-date

[haible (Bruno Haible)]

> Is file-write date supposed to produce an error, as in the below?
> Steele (pg 655) state "..., or nil if this cannot be determined." The intent
> appears that a nonexistent file return nil.

Maybe. The wording is not clear, so you can't rely on your interpretation.
PROBE-FILE and some uses of OPEN are to the only pathname functions that
are guaranteed not to produce an error even if the file does not exist,
so you should use
      (AND (PROBE-FILE file) (FILE-WRITE-DATE file))
if you want to be careful.

Bruno Haible