Directory.GetCreationTime(String) Method

Reference

Definition

Namespace:: System.IO

Assemblies:: mscorlib.dll, System.IO.FileSystem.dll

Assembly:: System.IO.FileSystem.dll

Assembly:: System.Runtime.dll

Assembly:: mscorlib.dll

Assembly:: netstandard.dll

Source:: Directory.cs

Source:: Directory.cs

Source:: Directory.cs

Important

Some information relates to prerelease product that may be substantially modified before it’s released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

Gets the creation date and time of a directory.

public:
 static DateTime GetCreationTime(System::String ^ path);

public static DateTime GetCreationTime (string path);

static member GetCreationTime : string -> DateTime

Public Shared Function GetCreationTime (path As String) As DateTime

Parameters

path: String

The path of the directory.

Returns

DateTime

A structure that is set to the creation date and time for the specified directory. This value is expressed in local time.

Exceptions

UnauthorizedAccessException

The caller does not have the required permission.

ArgumentException

.NET Framework and .NET Core versions older than 2.1: path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters. You can query for invalid characters by using the GetInvalidPathChars() method.

ArgumentNullException

path is null.

PathTooLongException

The specified path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length.

Examples

The following example gets the creation time of the specified directory.

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
int main()
{
   try
   {
      
      // Get the creation time of a well-known directory.
      DateTime dt = Directory::GetCreationTime( Environment::CurrentDirectory );
      
      // Give feedback to the user.
      if ( DateTime::Now.Subtract( dt ).TotalDays > 364 )
      {
         Console::WriteLine( "This directory is over a year old." );
      }
      else
      if ( DateTime::Now.Subtract( dt ).TotalDays > 30 )
      {
         Console::WriteLine( "This directory is over a month old." );
      }
      else
      if ( DateTime::Now.Subtract( dt ).TotalDays <= 1 )
      {
         Console::WriteLine( "This directory is less than a day old." );
      }
      else
      {
         Console::WriteLine( "This directory was created on {0}", dt );
      }
   }
   catch ( Exception^ e ) 
   {
      Console::WriteLine( "The process failed: {0}", e );
   }

}

using System;
using System.IO;

class Test
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // Get the creation time of a well-known directory.
            DateTime dt = Directory.GetCreationTime(Environment.CurrentDirectory);

            // Give feedback to the user.
            if (DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 364)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is over a year old.");
            }
            else if (DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 30)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is over a month old.");
            }
            else if (DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays <= 1)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is less than a day old.");
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("This directory was created on {0}", dt);
            }
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString());
        }
    }
}

open System
open System.IO

try
    // Get the creation time of a well-known directory.
    let dt = Directory.GetCreationTime Environment.CurrentDirectory

    // Give feedback to the user.
    if DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 364 then
        printfn "This directory is over a year old."
    elif DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 30 then
        printfn "This directory is over a month old."
    elif DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays <= 1 then
        printfn "This directory is less than a day old."
    else
        printfn $"This directory was created on {dt}"
with e ->
    printfn $"The process failed: {e}"

Imports System.IO

Public Class Test
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Try
            ' Get the creation time of a well-known directory.
            Dim dt As DateTime = Directory.GetCreationTime(Environment.CurrentDirectory)

            ' Give feedback to the user.
            If DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 364 Then
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is over a year old.")
            ElseIf DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 30 Then
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is over a month old.")
            ElseIf DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays <= 1 Then
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is less than a day old.")
            Else
                Console.WriteLine("This directory was created on {0}", dt)
            End If

        Catch e As Exception
            Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString())
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class

Remarks

Note

This method may return an inaccurate value, because it uses native functions whose values may not be continuously updated by the operating system.

This method is equivalent to File.GetCreationTime.

If the directory described in the path parameter does not exist, this method returns 12:00 midnight, January 1, 1601 A.D. (C.E.) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), adjusted to local time.

The path parameter is permitted to specify relative or absolute path information. Relative path information is interpreted as relative to the current working directory. To obtain the current working directory, see GetCurrentDirectory.

The case-sensitivity of the path parameter corresponds to that of the file system on which the code is running. For example, it's case-insensitive on NTFS (the default Windows file system) and case-sensitive on Linux file systems.

For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.

Applies to

Jaa