FileTime

Get and set the times for creation, access and modification of a file or folder (Windows only)

Description

These MEX-functions get and set the creation, access and write times of a file under Windows.

SetFileTime(FileName, Spec, DateVector, Type)
  FileName: File or folder name, absolute or relative path.
      Unicode names and UNC paths are accepted.
  Spec: String, 'Creation', 'Access', 'Write'.
  DateVector: [1 x 6] double vector (see DATEVEC) or UINT64.
  Type: Optional, conversion method from local to UTC time.

Time = GetFileTime(FileName, Type, OutType)
  FileName: File or folder name, absolute or relative path.
  Type: Optional, conversion method from UTC to local time.
  OutType: Optional, all three times as struct or a single time.
  Time: Struct with fields 'Creation', 'Access', 'Write' or
        one time, [1x6] DATEVEC or UINT64 format.

The Local<->UTC conversion needs Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or higher. The LCC 2.4 compiler shipped with Matlab does not know the "new" time function.

Precompiled mex files can be downloaded at:
http://www.n-simon.de/mex

Tested: Matlab 6.5/2009a, WinXP, 32 bit, OWC1.8, BCC5.5, LCC 3.8, MSVC 2008
Compatibility to 64 bit Windows is assumed.

• MATLAB release: MATLAB 7.8 (R2009a)

[Aurelien Queffurust]

Very useful to get the creation time of files since the DIR output doesn't return this information

[Bass]

Useful function.
Beaware, however that the times return by this function do not necessarily match those return by the MATLAB dir function. This seems to because Windows add an hour when reporting the time during daylight savings time (even if the file wasn't created during daylight savings time. See http://www.mathworks.com/support/solutions/en/data/1-1YLPX9/index.html?product=ML&solution=1-1YLPX9.)
MATLAB however does not do this.

I this function appears to return the Windows time. So I have run into problems when using the two functions together.

[Jan Simon]

@Bass: I've submitted a new version with an improved UTC<->local time conversion. Now with the default conversion, GetFileTime replies the same time as the DIR command of Matlab 7. UTC times and the Windows-like times depending on the current daylight saving time are possible also.
Thanks for finding this problem!

[Drew]

This is the first time I've downloaded from the FEX, so please excuse me if I'm making a trivial mistake; however, I am unable to get this to run.

When I try to use GetFileTime.m I see:

??? Error using ==> GetFileTime at 77
*** GetFileTimeCannot find MEX script!

I then tried running the uTest_FileTime.m and received a similar response:

=== Test SetFileTime / GetFileTime 14-Oct-2010 12:04:21
Create test file:
       name: 'FileTime__.test'
       date: '14-Oct-2010 12:04:21'
      bytes: 0
      isdir: 0
    datenum: 7.3443e+005

GetFileTime:
??? Error using ==> GetFileTime at 77
*** GetFileTimeCannot find MEX script!

Error in ==> uTest_FileTime at 59
Reply = GetFileTime(File);

Any thoughts? Thank you very much.

[Jan Simon]

@Drew: Sorry, I forgot to mention explicitely, that the C-file has to be compiled before it can be used.
At first setup your compiler by "mex -setup", if not done before. Then compile as mentioned in the C-file: "mex -O GetFileTime.c" and "mex -O SetFileTime.c".
If you run a 32bit Matlab, I offer pre-compiled Mex files on the named webpage.
Unfortunately I'm not allowed to distribute compiled files here in the FEX.

[Emile Demarteau]

Dear Jan,

Your function looks really promising, however I cannot compile the function, as matlab returns an error on the TzSpecificLocalTimeToSystemTime function. I am running matlab 7.5 on XP so this should support this functon.

Alternatively I commented out the error warning which uses this function. Now compilong works, however the function still return an error: 'SetFileTime: Time to FILETIME failed!' or ''Too many input paramters"

Finally, your precompiled dll's fixed the problem.

So thanks for putting this online!

Cheers,
Emile

[Jan Simon]

@Emile: I'm happy that offering the binaries helped!
 Which compiler did you use? In the documentation of SetFileTime you find a warning that LCC shipped with Matlab (at least up to 2009a) does not recognize TzSpecificLocalTimeToSystemTime. Very sad, because this function is not really brand new.
I found some workarounds in the net, but the source is much longer and complicated than the SetFileTime source.

[Lasse]

Thanks so much for this!
Is i possible to make a 'DateTaken'?