Directory.GetCreationTimeUtc(String) Method

Definition

Namespace:

System.IO

Assemblies:

netstandard.dll, System.Runtime.dll

Source:

Directory.cs

Gets the creation date and time, in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) format, of a directory.

C#

public static DateTime GetCreationTimeUtc(string path);

Parameters

path

String

The path of the directory.

Returns

DateTime

A structure that is set to the creation date and time for the specified directory. This value is expressed in UTC time.

Exceptions

UnauthorizedAccessException

The caller does not have the required permission.

ArgumentException

.NET Framework and .NET Core versions older than 2.1: path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters. You can query for invalid characters by using the GetInvalidPathChars() method.

ArgumentNullException

path is null.

PathTooLongException

The specified path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length.

Examples

The following example illustrates the differences in output when using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) output.

C#

// This sample shows the differences between dates from methods that use
//coordinated universal time (UTC) format and those that do not.
using System;
using System.IO;

namespace IOSamples
{
  public class DirectoryUTCTime
  {
    public static void Main()
    {
    // Set the directory.
      string n = @"C:\test\newdir";
        //Create two variables to use to set the time.
      DateTime dtime1 = new DateTime(2002, 1, 3);
      DateTime dtime2 = new DateTime(1999, 1, 1);

    //Create the directory.
      try
      {
          Directory.CreateDirectory(n);
      }
      catch (IOException e)
      {
          Console.WriteLine(e);
      }

    //Set the creation and last access times to a variable DateTime value.
      Directory.SetCreationTime(n, dtime1);
      Directory.SetLastAccessTimeUtc(n, dtime1);

        // Print to console the results.
      Console.WriteLine("Creation Date: {0}", Directory.GetCreationTime(n));
      Console.WriteLine("UTC creation Date: {0}", Directory.GetCreationTimeUtc(n));
      Console.WriteLine("Last write time: {0}", Directory.GetLastWriteTime(n));
      Console.WriteLine("UTC last write time: {0}", Directory.GetLastWriteTimeUtc(n));
      Console.WriteLine("Last access time: {0}", Directory.GetLastAccessTime(n));
      Console.WriteLine("UTC last access time: {0}", Directory.GetLastAccessTimeUtc(n));

        //Set the last write time to a different value.
      Directory.SetLastWriteTimeUtc(n, dtime2);
      Console.WriteLine("Changed last write time: {0}", Directory.GetLastWriteTimeUtc(n));
    }
  }
}
// Obviously, since this sample deals with dates and times, the output will vary
// depending on when you run the executable. Here is one example of the output:
//Creation Date: 1/3/2002 12:00:00 AM
//UTC creation Date: 1/3/2002 8:00:00 AM
//Last write time: 12/31/1998 4:00:00 PM
//UTC last write time: 1/1/1999 12:00:00 AM
//Last access time: 1/2/2002 4:00:00 PM
//UTC last access time: 1/3/2002 12:00:00 AM
//Changed last write time: 1/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Remarks

Note

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

If the directory described in the path parameter does not exist, this method returns 12:00 midnight, January 1, 1601 A.D. (C.E.) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Use this method to get the creation time for a directory based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Applies to

See also

• FileSystemWatcher
• File and Stream I/O
• How to: Read Text from a File
• How to: Write Text to a File