FileSystemInfo.CreationTime Property

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

The value of the CreationTime property is pre-cached if the current instance of the FileSystemInfo object was returned from any of the following DirectoryInfo methods:

• GetDirectories

• GetFiles

• GetFileSystemInfos

• EnumerateDirectories

• EnumerateFiles

• EnumerateFileSystemInfos

To get the latest value, call the Refresh method.

If the file described in the FileSystemInfo object does not exist, this property will return 12:00 midnight, January 1, 1601 A.D. (C.E.) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), adjusted to local time.

NTFS-formatted drives may cache file meta-info, such as file creation time, for a short period of time. This process is known as file tunneling. As a result, it may be necessary to explicitly set the creation time of a file if you are overwriting or replacing an existing file.

This property value is null if the file system containing the FileSystemInfo object does not support this information.

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition Platform Note: These operating systems do not support this property, and DirectoryInfo implementations of this property are not supported.

The following example demonstrates the CreationTime property. This code example is part of a larger example provided for the FileSystemInfo class.

static void DisplayFileSystemInfoAttributes(FileSystemInfo fsi)
{
    //  Assume that this entry is a file. 
    string entryType = "File";

    // Determine if entry is really a directory 
    if ((fsi.Attributes & FileAttributes.Directory) == FileAttributes.Directory )
    {
        entryType = "Directory";
    }
    //  Show this entry's type, name, and creation date.
    Console.WriteLine("{0} entry {1} was created on {2:D}", entryType, fsi.FullName, fsi.CreationTime);
}

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

• FileIOPermission 

  for setting the creation time. Associated enumeration: FileIOPermissionAccess.Write

Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core Role not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core Role supported with SP1 or later; Itanium not supported)

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference

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