How Can I Get a File's Creation and Modification Timestamps Reliably Across Different Operating Systems?

Accessing File Creation and Modification Date/Times Cross-Platform

Retrieving file modification date/times cross-platform is straightforward with os.path.getmtime(path). For a more granular approach, consider the following nuances:

Windows

For creation dates on Windows, utilize os.path.getctime(path). This retrieves the file's "creation time" (ctime), which is specific to Windows.

Mac and Unix (Except Linux)

Access creation dates via the .st_birthtime attribute of the os.stat() result.

Linux

Unfortunately, retrieving creation dates on Linux is currently not feasible without implementing a Python C extension. Accessing st_crtime, which stores creation dates on Linux file systems, is restricted by limitations in the Linux kernel. As a fallback, use os.path.getmtime() to obtain the content modification timestamp.

To cover all platforms, a versatile approach could be:

import os
import platform

def creation_date(path):
    if platform.system() == 'Windows':
        return os.path.getctime(path)
    else:
        stat = os.stat(path)
        try:
            return stat.st_birthtime
        except AttributeError:
            return stat.st_mtime

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