In this article, you will learn how to get time-related information of a file. There are two different methods to achieve this. You can either use static methods of File class or call methods of FileIno class after initiating it.
Get time information of a file in C# using the File Class
Let’s say you have a text file named MyFile inside your application startup folder and you need to know when it was created, modified, or other time-related information.
First, you need to add the IO namespace:
using System.IO;
Get local time information using File Class
The code below will show the file information in a MessgeBox:
void GetFileInfo() { try { StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder(); string FileName = "MyFile.txt"; string FilePath = Application.StartupPath + "\" + FileName; DateTime creationTime = File.GetCreationTime(FilePath); DateTime lastModifiedTime = File.GetLastWriteTime(FilePath); DateTime lastAccessedTime = File.GetLastAccessTime(FilePath); stringBuilder.AppendLine(FileName + " Time Information"); stringBuilder.AppendLine(""); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Creation Time: " + creationTime); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Last Modified Time: " + lastModifiedTime); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Last Accessed Time: " + lastAccessedTime); MessageBox.Show(stringBuilder.ToString()); } catch (Exception ex) { throw ex; } }
Get UTC information using File Class
Now let’s say you want to get the UTC(Coordinated Universal Time) information of a file. The File Class has properties that will return the desired time information in UTC as well:
void GetFileInfoUTC() { try { StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder(); string FileName = "MyFile.txt"; string FilePath = Application.StartupPath + "\" + FileName; DateTime creationTimeUtc = File.GetCreationTimeUtc(FilePath); DateTime lastModifiedTimeUtc = File.GetLastWriteTimeUtc(FilePath); DateTime lastAccessedTimeUtc = File.GetLastAccessTimeUtc(FilePath); stringBuilder.AppendLine(FileName + " Time UTC Information"); stringBuilder.AppendLine(""); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Creation Time: " + creationTimeUtc); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Last Modified Time: " + lastModifiedTimeUtc); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Last Accessed Time: " + lastAccessedTimeUtc); MessageBox.Show(stringBuilder.ToString()); } catch (Exception ex) { throw ex; } }
Get time information of a file in C# using the FileInfo Class
Another method to get the time-related information of the file is by using the FileInfo class.
Get local time information using FileInfo Class
void GetFileInfo() { try { StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder(); string FileName = "MyFile.txt"; string FilePath = Application.StartupPath + "\" + FileName; FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(FilePath); DateTime creationTime = fileInfo.CreationTime; DateTime lastModifiedTime = fileInfo.LastWriteTime; DateTime lastAccessTime = fileInfo.LastAccessTime; stringBuilder.AppendLine(FileName + " Time Information"); stringBuilder.AppendLine(""); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Creation Time: " + creationTime); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Last Modified Time: " + lastModifiedTime); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Last Accessed Time: " + lastAccessTime); MessageBox.Show(stringBuilder.ToString()); } catch (Exception ex) { throw ex; } }
Get UTC information using FileInfo Class
void GetFileInfoUTC() { try { StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder(); string FileName = "MyFile.txt"; string FilePath = Application.StartupPath + "\" + FileName; FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(FilePath); DateTime creationTimeUtc = fileInfo.CreationTimeUtc; DateTime lastModifiedTimeUtc = fileInfo.LastWriteTimeUtc; DateTime lastAccessTimeUtc = fileInfo.LastAccessTimeUtc; stringBuilder.AppendLine(FileName + " Time UTC Information"); stringBuilder.AppendLine(""); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Creation Time: " + creationTimeUtc); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Last Modified Time: " + lastModifiedTimeUtc); stringBuilder.AppendLine("Last Accessed Time: " + lastAccessTimeUtc); MessageBox.Show(stringBuilder.ToString()); } catch (Exception ex) { throw ex; } }
Happy Coding!
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