File creation time.

[PeejAvery]

It is easy to get the file's last modification time but what about the file's created time and date?

[software_engineer]

you can get the inode last change time with filectime, which is as close as you can get.

[PeejAvery]

you can get the inode last change time with filectime, which is as close as you can get.

Correct me if I am wrong, but won't that just return the same as the modified time? What is the difference between a change in a file and a modification of a file?

[software_engineer]

Correct me if I am wrong, but won't that just return the same as the modified time? What is the difference between a change in a file and a modification of a file?

filectime returns when the file was changed (permissions, ownership etc), so it is most likely to change less often than filemtime (which is when the file is modified).
the created date is in general not stored.

[PeejAvery]

filectime returns when the file was changed (permissions, ownership etc), so it is most likely to change less often than filemtime (which is when the file is modified).
the created date is in general not stored.

That is true but not too true. I work with files on a large scale Novell Network. Ownership and permissions are changed all the time. Pretty much there is no way to accomplish what I want with creation time.