How Can I Consistently Retrieve File Creation and Modification Dates Across Linux and Windows?

Cross-Platform Retrieval of File Creation and Modification Dates

Determining file creation and modification dates/times consistently across platforms has been a persistent challenge. Here's a comprehensive breakdown of the best approaches for Linux and Windows:

Getting File Modification Dates

Retrieving the last modified timestamp is straightforward in both Linux and Windows. Simply use the os.path.getmtime(path) function. It returns the Unix timestamp of the most recent modification to the file at the specified path.

Getting File Creation Dates

Extracting file creation dates, however, proves more complex and platform-dependent:

• Windows:
  Windows maintains a creation date (ctime) for files. Access this information through os.path.getctime(path) or the .st_ctime attribute of the result from os.stat().
• Mac:
  MacOS and certain Unix-based systems provide a .st_birthtime attribute that stores the file's creation date.
• Linux:
  Currently, determining file creation dates on Linux is not possible without writing a C extension for Python. However, the Linux kernel returns the file's last modified timestamp through st_mtime, which can serve as a reasonable proxy.

Cross-Platform Compatibility

For cross-platform compatibility, consider the following code:

import os
import platform

def creation_date(path_to_file):
    """
    Retrieve the date the file was created.
    If not possible, fall back to the last modified date.
    """
    if platform.system() == 'Windows':
        return os.path.getctime(path_to_file)
    else:
        stat = os.stat(path_to_file)
        try:
            return stat.st_birthtime
        except AttributeError:
            # Assuming Linux, fall back to modification date
            return stat.st_mtime

By leveraging platform-specific techniques and handling exceptions appropriately, this code allows for consistent retrieval of file creation and modification dates on both Linux and Windows.

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