How can I get the creation timestamp of a file which is in a folder ? [python] [csv]

Question

I want to get only one creation timestamp of any file in a folder because they all were created at the same time. When I use this code below, it only shows the timestamp of the folder but not the file. There are many folder with many files and the folder were created newer dates.

c_time = os.path.getctime(path)
dt_c = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(c_time)

@hellbreak yes, path is the main folder.. in the main folder are sub folders and in the sub folders are files. I want to get the creation timestamp of one of the files and list in CSV. If I use the code above I only get the creation timestamp of the sub folder and not the files — Volcano
– Volcano, Commented Sep 16, 2022 at 8:34
have you tried to set the path to your file? like /home/hellbreak/Documents/test.txt ? — hellbreak
– hellbreak, Commented Sep 16, 2022 at 8:47

hellbreak · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-16 09:05:20Z

2

os.path.getctime() method in Python is used to get the system’s ctime of the specified path I guess you did right. test.txt Is on my current folder

import os
import datetime
path = 'test.txt'
c_time = os.path.getctime('test.txt')
dt_c = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(c_time)
print(dt_c)

Output:

2022-09-16 10:28:29.922116

If you want to find when your file was last modified, you can use os.path.getmtime()

import os
import datetime
m_time = os.path.getmtime(path)
dt = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(m_time)
print('Modified on:', dt)

Output:

Modified on: 2022-09-16 10:38:58.934354

Edited to reflect the comments If you want to get the timestamp of all the files in a folder, you have to list all of them first. You can do it with the help of os.listdir() The do something like this

dir_list = os.listdir(yourpathhere)
for f in dir_list[1:]:
    print("filename {}".format(f))
    c_time = os.path.getctime(f)
    dt_c = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(c_time)
    print("Creation date {}".format(dt_c))
    m_time = os.path.getmtime(path)
    dt = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(m_time)
    print('Modified on {}'.format(dt))

Output:

2022-09-16 10:38:58.934354
Modified on: 2022-09-16 10:38:58.934354
filename test.txt
Creation date 2022-09-16 10:38:58.934354
Modified on 2022-09-16 10:38:58.934354
filename test_2.py
Creation date 2022-09-16 11:02:29.505548
Modified on 2022-09-16 10:38:58.934354

edited Sep 16, 2022 at 9:05

answered Sep 16, 2022 at 8:39

hellbreak

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4 Comments

Volcano Over a year ago

Ive tried both and both show only the timestamp of the folder and not the files. the files in the folder has different names thats why I cant take a path name like test.txt

hellbreak Over a year ago

So I guess you should first get a list of the files in your dir and then get the timestamp of each of them

hellbreak Over a year ago

@Volcano, I edited the code above to reflect your comment.

hellbreak Over a year ago

@Volcano The code above is an example. If you need to process several folders with several files, you can adapt it by listing and looping through the folders you need. anyway, Can you share a little bit of your code? I guess it would help to understand your case better.

Henro Sutrisno Tanjung · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-16 08:47:03Z

0

    import os
    import platform

from datetime import datetime, timezone

def creation_date(path_to_file):
    if platform.system() == 'Windows':
       return os.path.getctime(path_to_file)
    else:
       stat = os.stat(path_to_file)
       try:
          # return stat.st_birthtime
          return datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_birthtime, tz=timezone.utc)
       except AttributeError:           
          # return stat.st_mtime
          return datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_mtime, tz=timezone.utc)


date_creation = creation_date('/home/henro/Documents/help/app/main.py')

print (date_creation)
output:
2022-09-16 08:44:18.115245+00:0

change the path_file to yours

answered Sep 16, 2022 at 8:47

Henro Sutrisno Tanjung

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2 Comments

Volcano Over a year ago

thanks for your answer. Ive tried your code. it shows me the Unix timestamp from the folder but not the files inside the folder. Any ideas on how I can get the timestamp from one of the files in the folder?

Henro Sutrisno Tanjung Over a year ago

if path_to_file is assign only to folder, so in that function you need to add code in to the folder.

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