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I want to get ctime of a file in java. ctime is change time ,can be get by using "ls -lc filename" in linux. but how can I get it in java ? also I need to get it in java's FTP API.

Geek2Sages
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    Writing "to" instead of "2" just takes one more tap on your keyboard and makes you post better. – jhamon Dec 09 '16 at 08:41
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    Is it [Getting the last modified date of a file in Java](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4363197/getting-the-last-modified-date-of-a-file-in-java)? – zapl Dec 09 '16 at 08:43
  • Not lastModifiedTime(mtime), I need ctime in linux. – Geek2Sages Dec 09 '16 at 08:48
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    Possible duplicate of [Determine file creation date in Java](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2723838/determine-file-creation-date-in-java) – walen Dec 09 '16 at 08:51
  • Oh, actually ctime is different from creation date (gets updated when file content changes): http://www.linux-faqs.info/general/difference-between-mtime-ctime-and-atime - Typical linux filesystems don't even have a creation date at all: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/24441/get-file-created-creation-time – zapl Dec 09 '16 at 08:56
  • This is a great question. I think the people who downvoted it just failed to understand it. Takes all types to make the world go round, I guess. – Dawood ibn Kareem Dec 09 '16 at 10:40

2 Answers2

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You want to call

Files.getAttribute(path, "unix:ctime")

which will return the ctime (metadata changed time). This only works in Unix/Linux systems of course.

I think it returns a String which you'll then have to parse if you want a date. I can't try it out, of course, because my computer runs Windows. I also don't know what time zone it will come back in. So you'll have to experiment for yourself to see what comes back.

I've made this Community Wiki, and I invite anyone who does know the time zone and return format of this (or who wants to try it out on a Unix machine) to edit this post accordingly.

Dawood ibn Kareem
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new File("C:\Users\username\Documents\filename").lastModified()

As given in the javadocs for java.io.File

Ashish John
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