Comparing dates to check for old files

Question

I want to check if a file is older than a certain amount of time (e.g. 2 days).

I managed to get the file creation time in such a way:

>>> import os.path, time
>>> fileCreation = os.path.getctime(filePath)
>>> time.ctime(os.path.getctime(filePath))
'Mon Aug 22 14:20:38 2011'

How can I now check if this is older than 2 days?

I work under Linux, but a cross platform solution would be better. Cheers!

corruption which i just removed – Stefano Jul 10 '19 at 11:12 — Stefano, Jul 10 '19 at 11:12

score 30 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 07 '18 at 08:18

30

I know, it is an old question. But I was looking for something similar and came up with this alternative solution:

from os import path
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

two_days_ago = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=2)
filetime = datetime.fromtimestamp(path.getctime(file_path))

if filetime < two_days_ago:
  print "File is more than two days old."

edited Jun 07 '18 at 08:18

hannu40k

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answered Aug 08 '13 at 12:58

Eduardo

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You can skip the conversion to and from the string representation: filetime = datetime.fromtimestamp(path.getctime(file)) – Erik Forsberg Aug 15 '13 at 19:16
@ErikForsberg, that is nicer! Updated it. Thanks! – Eduardo Aug 17 '13 at 13:10

score 23 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 15 '11 at 12:42

23

now = time.time()
twodays_ago = now - 60*60*24*2 # Number of seconds in two days
if fileCreation < twodays_ago:
    print "File is more than two days old"

answered Sep 15 '11 at 12:42

Erik Forsberg

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+1 i knew it was quite easy... but i was a bit blocket by data types... thanks a lot! :) – Stefano Sep 15 '11 at 12:45
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I believe it would be cleaner to use timedelta (ref.: Eduardo's answer). – Alvaro Jun 30 '15 at 18:47

Comparing dates to check for old files

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