How to Get File Creation and Modification Date or Time in Python

Retrieving file creation and modification times is a common task in Python, useful for log management, file synchronization, backup systems, and data processing pipelines. Python provides several ways to access these timestamps using built-in modules. In this guide, we'll cover the most practical methods, show how to format the timestamps, and explain the important cross-platform differences.

Quick Answer

import os
from datetime import datetime

path = "myfile.txt"

# Modification time
mod_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getmtime(path))
print(f"Modified: {mod_time}")

# Creation time (see platform note below)
create_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getctime(path))
print(f"Created:  {create_time}")

Output:

Modified: 2025-07-07 16:25:52.490759
Created:  2025-06-27 14:16:30.123721

Platform Difference: getctime() Behavior

• Windows: os.path.getctime() returns the file creation time.
• Linux/macOS: os.path.getctime() returns the time of the last metadata change (for example, permissions, ownership), which is not the creation time.

To get the true creation time on macOS, use os.stat(path).st_birthtime. On Linux, true creation time (birth time) is only available on certain filesystems (ext4 with kernel 4.11+) via os.stat(path).st_birthtime (Python 3.12+).

Method 1: Using os.path with time Module

The os.path module provides getmtime() and getctime(), which return timestamps as seconds since epoch (January 1, 1970). The time module's ctime() function converts these to a human-readable string.

import os
import time

path = "myfile.txt"

# Get timestamps (seconds since epoch)
mod_timestamp = os.path.getmtime(path)
create_timestamp = os.path.getctime(path)

# Convert to readable strings
mod_readable = time.ctime(mod_timestamp)
create_readable = time.ctime(create_timestamp)

print(f"Modified: {mod_readable}")
print(f"Created:  {create_readable}")

Output:

Modified: Mon Jul  7 16:25:52 2025
Created:  Fri Jun 27 14:16:30 2025

Custom Format with strftime()

To format the timestamp in a specific way (for example, ISO 8601):

import os
import time

path = "myfile.txt"

mod_timestamp = os.path.getmtime(path)
time_struct = time.localtime(mod_timestamp)

# ISO 8601 format
formatted = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", time_struct)
print(f"Modified: {formatted}")

# Custom format
custom = time.strftime("%B %d, %Y at %I:%M %p", time_struct)
print(f"Modified: {custom}")

Output:

Modified: 2025-07-07 16:25:52
Modified: July 07, 2025 at 04:25 PM

Method 2: Using os.path with datetime Module

The datetime module provides a more versatile way to work with timestamps:

import os
from datetime import datetime

path = "myfile.txt"

# Modification time as datetime object
mod_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getmtime(path))
print(f"Modified: {mod_time}")

# Creation time as datetime object
create_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getctime(path))
print(f"Created:  {create_time}")

# Custom formatting
print(f"Modified (ISO): {mod_time.isoformat()}")
print(f"Modified (custom): {mod_time.strftime('%d/%m/%Y %H:%M')}")

Output:

Modified: 2025-07-07 16:25:52.490759
Created:  2025-06-27 14:16:30.123721
Modified (ISO): 2025-07-07T16:25:52.490759
Modified (custom): 07/07/2025 16:25

Working with Timezones

For timezone-aware timestamps:

import os
from datetime import datetime, timezone

path = "myfile.txt"

# UTC timestamp
mod_time_utc = datetime.fromtimestamp(
    os.path.getmtime(path), tz=timezone.utc
)
print(f"Modified (UTC): {mod_time_utc.isoformat()}")

# Local timestamp
mod_time_local = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getmtime(path))
print(f"Modified (local): {mod_time_local.isoformat()}")

Output:

Modified (UTC): 2025-07-07T10:25:52.490759+00:00
Modified (local): 2025-07-07T16:25:52.490759

Method 3: Using pathlib.Path (Modern Python)

pathlib provides a clean, object-oriented approach:

from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime

path = Path("myfile.txt")

# Using .stat() to get file metadata
stat = path.stat()

mod_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_mtime)
create_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_ctime)
access_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_atime)

print(f"Modified:     {mod_time}")
print(f"Created/Meta: {create_time}")
print(f"Last Access:  {access_time}")
print(f"Size:         {stat.st_size:,} bytes")

Output:

Modified:     2025-07-07 16:25:52.490759
Created/Meta: 2025-06-27 14:16:30.123721
Last Access:  2025-07-23 09:15:00.000000
Size:         1,247 bytes

Available Timestamp Attributes from stat()

Attribute	Description
st_mtime	Last modification time (content changed)
st_ctime	Creation time (Windows) / metadata change time (Linux/macOS)
st_atime	Last access time (file was read)
st_birthtime	True creation time (macOS; Python 3.12+ on Linux with ext4)
st_size	File size in bytes

Method 4: Using os.stat() Directly

os.stat() returns a stat result object with all file metadata:

import os
from datetime import datetime

path = "myfile.txt"
stat = os.stat(path)

print(f"Modification time: {datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_mtime)}")
print(f"Creation/Meta time: {datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_ctime)}")
print(f"Access time: {datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_atime)}")

Getting True Creation Time Cross-Platform

Since st_ctime means different things on different platforms, here's a helper function that gets the true creation time where possible:

import os
import platform
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path


def get_creation_time(filepath):
    """Get the file creation time, cross-platform."""
    stat = os.stat(filepath)

    if platform.system() == 'Windows':
        # Windows: st_ctime is the creation time
        return datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_ctime)
    elif platform.system() == 'Darwin':
        # macOS: st_birthtime is the true creation time
        return datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_birthtime)
    else:
        # Linux: st_birthtime available on Python 3.12+ with ext4
        # Fall back to st_mtime if not available
        try:
            return datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_birthtime)
        except AttributeError:
            # st_birthtime not available: use the earlier of ctime and mtime
            return datetime.fromtimestamp(min(stat.st_ctime, stat.st_mtime))


path = "myfile.txt"
print(f"Created: {get_creation_time(path)}")
print(f"Modified: {datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getmtime(path))}")

Practical Examples

Checking If a File Was Modified Recently

from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

path = Path("myfile.txt")

mod_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(path.stat().st_mtime)
age = datetime.now() - mod_time

if age < timedelta(hours=24):
    print(f"File was modified {age.total_seconds() / 3600:.1f} hours ago (recent)")
elif age < timedelta(days=7):
    print(f"File was modified {age.days} days ago")
else:
    print(f"File was modified on {mod_time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')} ({age.days} days ago)")

Output:

File was modified 16 days ago

Finding the Most Recently Modified File in a Directory

from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime

directory = Path(".")

files = [(f, f.stat().st_mtime) for f in directory.iterdir() if f.is_file()]

if files:
    # Sort by modification time (newest first)
    files.sort(key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)

    print("Most recently modified files:")
    for f, mtime in files[:5]:
        mod_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(mtime)
        print(f"  {mod_time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')}  {f.name}")

Output:

Most recently modified files:
  2025-07-23 09:15  report.py
  2025-07-22 14:30  data.csv
  2025-07-20 11:00  config.json
  2025-07-18 08:45  utils.py
  2025-07-15 16:20  README.md

Getting File Info as a Dictionary

from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime


def get_file_info(filepath):
    """Return a dictionary of file metadata."""
    path = Path(filepath)

    if not path.exists():
        raise FileNotFoundError(f"File not found: {filepath}")

    stat = path.stat()

    return {
        "name": path.name,
        "directory": str(path.parent.resolve()),
        "size_bytes": stat.st_size,
        "size_readable": f"{stat.st_size / 1024:.1f} KB",
        "modified": datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_mtime).isoformat(),
        "created": datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_ctime).isoformat(),
        "accessed": datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_atime).isoformat(),
        "extension": path.suffix,
    }


info = get_file_info("myfile.txt")
for key, value in info.items():
    print(f"  {key:15s}: {value}")

Output:

  name           : myfile.txt
  directory      : /home/user/project
  size_bytes     : 1247
  size_readable  : 1.2 KB
  modified       : 2025-07-07T16:25:52.490759
  created        : 2025-06-27T14:16:30.123721
  accessed       : 2025-07-23T09:15:00
  extension      : .txt

Common Format Specifiers

Specifier	Meaning	Example
%Y	4-digit year	2025
%m	Month (zero-padded)	07
%d	Day (zero-padded)	23
%H	Hour (24-hour)	16
%I	Hour (12-hour)	04
%M	Minute	25
%S	Second	52
%p	AM/PM	PM
%B	Full month name	July
%A	Full day name	Wednesday

Method Comparison

Method	Returns	Best For
os.path.getmtime()	Float (seconds)	Quick modification time check
os.path.getctime()	Float (seconds)	Creation time (Windows only)
os.stat()	Stat result object	All file metadata at once
pathlib.Path.stat()	Stat result object	Modern, object-oriented code
datetime.fromtimestamp()	datetime object	Formatting and date arithmetic
time.ctime()	String	Quick human-readable output

Conclusion

To get file creation and modification times in Python, use os.path.getmtime() for modification time and convert it with datetime.fromtimestamp() for a readable format.

For modern Python code, pathlib.Path.stat() provides a clean, object-oriented approach to accessing all file metadata.

Remember that st_ctime means creation time on Windows but metadata change time on Linux/macOS; use st_birthtime on macOS for the true creation time. Format timestamps with strftime() to match your application's requirements.