The filectime Function
The filectime function returns the file creation time as a Unix timestamp - the number of seconds since 1 January 1970. The function takes the file path as a parameter. If the file does not exist, the function will return false.
Syntax
filectime(filename);
Example
Get the creation time of the current file and output it in a human-readable format:
<?php
$filename = __FILE__;
$timestamp = filectime($filename);
echo "File created: " . date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $timestamp);
?>
Code execution result:
'File created: 2023-05-15 14:30:22'
Example
Check if the file exists before getting its creation time:
<?php
$filename = 'test.txt';
if (file_exists($filename)) {
echo "File created: " . date("Y-m-d H:i:s", filectime($filename));
} else {
echo "File not found";
}
?>
Code execution result (if the file does not exist):
'File not found'
See Also
-
the
filemtimefunction,
which returns the modification time -
the
fileatimefunction,
which returns the access time -
the
clearstatcachefunction,
which clears the file status cache
