Append TimeStamp to a File Name
Solution 1
You can use DateTime.ToString Method (String)
DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmssfff")
string.Format("{0:yyyy-MM-dd_HH-mm-ss-fff}", DateTime.Now)
;
$"{DateTime.Now:yyyy-MM-dd_HH-mm-ss-fff}"
There are following custom format specifiers y (year), M (month), d (day), h (hour 12), H (hour 24), m (minute), s (second), f (second fraction), F (second fraction, trailing zeroes are trimmed), t (P.M or A.M) and z (time zone).
With Extension Method
Usage:
string result = "myfile.txt".AppendTimeStamp();
//myfile20130604234625642.txt
Extension method
public static class MyExtensions
{
public static string AppendTimeStamp(this string fileName)
{
return string.Concat(
Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(fileName),
DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmssfff"),
Path.GetExtension(fileName)
);
}
}
Solution 2
I prefer to use:
string result = "myFile_" + DateTime.Now.ToFileTime() + ".txt";
What does ToFileTime() do?
Converts the value of the current DateTime object to a Windows file time.
public long ToFileTime()
A Windows file time is a 64-bit value that represents the number of 100-nanosecond intervals that have elapsed since 12:00 midnight, January 1, 1601 A.D. (C.E.) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Windows uses a file time to record when an application creates, accesses, or writes to a file.
Source: MSDN documentation - DateTime.ToFileTime Method
Solution 3
Perhaps appending DateTime.Now.Ticks
instead, is a tiny bit faster since you won't be creating 3 strings and the ticks value will always be unique also.
Solution 4
you can use:
Stopwatch.GetTimestamp();
Solution 5
You can use below instead:
DateTime.Now.Ticks
Mark
Updated on October 01, 2021Comments
-
Mark over 2 years
I have come across this problem several times in which I would like to have multiple versions of the same file in the same directory. The way I have been doing it using C# is by adding a time stamp to the file name with something like this
DateTime.Now.ToString().Replace('/', '-').Replace(':', '.')
. Is there a better way to do this? -
gilu almost 7 yearsI've added
Path.GetDirectoryName(fileName)
to get the full path to the file. Then replacedstring.Concat()
withPath.Combine()
the get the full filename. -
Joseph almost 7 yearsthis answer the way you get the timestamp!. append it to a file using the Path class and string manipulation is not an issue at all. this only an alternative to DateTime.ToString Method (String) or string.Format("{0:yyyy-MM-dd_hh-mm-ss-tt}",DateTime.Now);