Check if the file is newer then some other file?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
python: which file is newer & by how much time

In python -- how do I check -- if the file is newer then some other file?

Edit:

There are creation time and modification time.

The question should state the desired property explicitly.

Modification

os.stat(FILE).st_mtime
os.path.getmtime(FILE)

Creation

os.path.getctime(FILE) and os.stat(FILE).st_ctime doesn't give creation time on Unix-like OSes. Link by root has the solution on how to find out the creation time on Unix-like boxes.

What have you tried so far? File operations like this usually are easily solved with the [`os` module](http://docs.python.org/library/os.html). — Martijn Pieters, Oct 10 '12 at 10:19
@MartijnPieters: Oh I was thinking what module to search. Now I'm reading the doc of os.stat -- thatnks to You. — Adobe, Oct 10 '12 at 10:25
@MartijnPieters: it's not a duplicate of that -- since there people talk about modification time, while the question as it stated -- is about creation time (frankly speaking modification -- is what I need -- but I forgotten all about it while posting the question). — Adobe, Oct 10 '12 at 13:00
Well, since you *changed* your question it is now no longer a duplicate. The other question showed you how to retrieve that information, and that was your original question as well. — Martijn Pieters, Oct 10 '12 at 16:31

score 15 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 10 '12 at 10:22

15

import os
f1 = os.path.getmtime('file1')
f2 = os.path.getmtime('file2')

if f1 > f2:

check for modified time might be one solution

answered Oct 10 '12 at 10:22

James

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It seems that you are comparing the modification time, not creation. – defuz Oct 10 '12 at 10:25
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Because file can be update to be newer – James Oct 10 '12 at 11:44
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It is good to be aware that if the file doesn't exist this throws an OSError. Would be good to wrap in try / except block. – nu everest Aug 13 '16 at 00:03

score 15 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

15

You can also use os.path.getctime. This example will return True if file1 was created before file2 and False otherwise.

import os.path
os.path.getctime('file1') < os.path.getctime('file2')

EDIT: Note that there is no cross platform solution to your question -- ctime() in Unix means last change time, not create time. The same applies when using os.stat(file).st_ctime.

Here seems to be something that could work on unix machines.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

Community

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answered Oct 10 '12 at 10:28

root

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Fortunately I don't have to deal with Windows. – Adobe Oct 10 '12 at 11:08
@ Adobe -- updated the answer adding a link to another question about OSX , but it seems to be a bit hackish. – root Oct 10 '12 at 11:11

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 10 '12 at 10:29

Using os.stat on any file, gives you a set of 10 different stats about your file.. One of the stat is creation time -> st_ctime .. You can use that to calculate the difference between your creation time of two files..

>>> import os
>>> os.stat("D:\demo.pl")
nt.stat_result(st_mode=33206, st_ino=0L, st_dev=0, st_nlink=0, st_uid=0, 
st_gid=0, st_size=135L, st_atime=1348227875L, st_mtime=1348228036L, 
st_ctime=1348227875L)

>>> os.stat("D:\demo.pl").st_ctime
1348227875.8448658

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 10 '12 at 10:23

1

import os

def comp(path1, path2):    
    return os.stat(path1).st_ctime > os.stat(path2).st_ctime

answered Oct 10 '12 at 10:23

defuz

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Check if the file is newer then some other file?

Modification

Creation

4 Answers4