How can I determine a file's creation date in Windows?

Question

How can I get the date of when a file was created? I am running Windows.

Solution 1

Use stat function

see here

#include <sys/stat.h>

#include <unistd.h>

#include <time.h>



struct tm* clock;               // create a time structure

struct stat attrib;         // create a file attribute structure

stat("afile.txt", &attrib);     // get the attributes of afile.txt

clock = gmtime(&(attrib.st_mtime)); // Get the last modified time and put it into the time structure

Solution 2

On Windows, you should use the GetFileAttributesEx function for that.

Solution 3

For C, it depends on which operating system you are coding for. Files are a system dependent concept.

If you're system has it, you can go with the stat() (and friends) function: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/stat.html.

On Windows you may use the GetFileTime() function: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724320%28v=vs.85%29.aspx.

Solution 4

Unix systems don't store the time of file creation. Unix systems do store the last time the file was read (if atime is turned on for that specific file system; sometimes it is disabled for speed), the last time the file was modified (mtime), and the last time the file's metadata changed (ctime).

See the stat(2) manpage for details on using it.

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Comments

[Cody Gray]

Does this work on Windows? Or are you assuming the OP is using UNIX?

[Arsen Mkrtchyan]

Yea, I guess , see msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/14h5k7ff%28v=vs.80%29.aspx

[Billy ONeal]

Err.. I see no stat in that link. I do see a _stat.

[Billy ONeal]

GetFileAttributesEx is superior to GetFileTime for this particular purpose, for three reasons: 1. Using GetFileTime requires opening a handle to the file (and therefore the handle must be managed correctly) 2. As a result of (1), performance can suffer because the system actually has to seek to the file rather than it's MFT position 3. As a result of (1), GetFileAttributesEx usually requires fewer permissions than GetFileTime, and automatically asks for the minimal permissions require to retrieve the file's metadata rather than the file itself.

[Alexander Leon VI]

I am using this approach be cause I want to know the creation date of several files, but I get the same value for all the files in the ftCreationTime.dwLowDateTime and ` ftCreationTime.dwLowDateTime `, why is happen this? Thank's

[Billy ONeal]

@Alexander: Perhaps the files have the same value for all of them?

[Alexander Leon VI]

The files have the same date, but I was expecting some differences due to all of them have different hour