PHP filectime Function

last modified April 3, 2025

The PHP filectime function returns the creation time of a file. This is different from modification time and access time. It’s useful for file management tasks.

Basic Definition

The filectime function returns the Unix timestamp when a file was created. On Unix systems, this is the inode change time. On Windows, it’s the actual creation time.

Syntax: filectime(string $filename): int|false. Returns timestamp on success, false on failure. The timestamp can be formatted with date functions.

Basic filectime Example

This shows the simplest usage of filectime to get creation time.

basic_filectime.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

$filename = “example.txt”; $ctime = filectime($filename);

echo “File created on: " . date(“Y-m-d H:i:s”, $ctime);

This outputs the creation time in a readable format. The date function converts the Unix timestamp to a human-readable string.

Checking File Existence First

It’s good practice to check if a file exists before getting its ctime.

filectime_exists.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

$filename = “example.txt”;

if (file_exists($filename)) { $ctime = filectime($filename); echo “File created: " . date(“Y-m-d”, $ctime); } else { echo “File does not exist”; }

This prevents warnings if the file doesn’t exist. The file_exists check ensures we only call filectime on existing files.

Comparing with Filemtime

This example shows the difference between creation time and modification time.

filectime_vs_filemtime.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

$filename = “example.txt”;

$ctime = filectime($filename); $mtime = filemtime($filename);

echo “Created: " . date(“Y-m-d H:i:s”, $ctime) . “\n”; echo “Modified: " . date(“Y-m-d H:i:s”, $mtime);

Creation time stays constant while modification time changes when content is updated. This helps track when a file was first created versus last changed.

Handling Directories

filectime works with directories as well as files.

directory_ctime.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

$dir = “documents”;

$ctime = filectime($dir);

echo “Directory created: " . date(“Y-m-d”, $ctime);

This shows when a directory was created. The function behaves the same way for directories as it does for regular files.

Error Handling

Proper error handling makes code more robust when dealing with filesystem ops.

filectime_error.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

$filename = “nonexistent.txt”;

$ctime = @filectime($filename);

if ($ctime === false) { echo “Could not get creation time”; } else { echo “Created: " . date(“Y-m-d”, $ctime); }

The @ operator suppresses warnings, and we check the return value explicitly. This provides cleaner error handling than letting PHP emit warnings.

Best Practices

• Timezones: Be aware of server timezone settings.

• Caching: Results may be cached; clearstatcache() helps.

• Permissions: Ensure proper file permissions.

• Cross-platform: Behavior differs slightly between OSes.

Source

PHP filectime Documentation

This tutorial covered the PHP filectime function with practical examples showing its usage in different scenarios.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.

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