How can you find out what is the latest block number?

8

When running a fresh client, or after not being connected for a while, the client takes some time downloading new blocks. How can you find out what is the target block number (the id of the newest publicly available block)?

ripper234

Posted 2011-09-04T22:59:13.980

Reputation: 25 192

Answers

10

All these sites display the total block count:

BlockExplorer also has an API that among other things lets you get the latest block count.

user62

Posted 2011-09-04T22:59:13.980

Reputation:

1

You could also use Biteasy.com to find out.

The latest block is always visible at the top of the blocks list and it includes a date or if you need to find out via API then you can use the following API call which will return the latest one (in JSON format) since they are sorted by date (newest to oldest):

https://api.biteasy.com/blockchain/v1/blocks?per_page=1

Biteasy.com

Posted 2011-09-04T22:59:13.980

Reputation: 171

1

Block Explorer displays the latest block.

ripper234

Posted 2011-09-04T22:59:13.980

Reputation: 25 192

Did anyone happen to implement a patch that integrates this into the official client? Should I post a feature request? (It seems like an obvious feature, so someone must have thought about it by now).ripper234 2011-09-04T23:00:38.597

Bitcoinwatch also displays it. And here is a more direct link for blockexplorer.nmat 2011-09-04T23:55:50.893