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C#

Get a Remote File's Last-Modified Time

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Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.GetFileLastModifiedStr method, which returns a remote file's last-modified date and time. The arguments are the remote path (or handle), whether symbolic links are followed, and whether the first argument is a handle.

Background: The last-modified time is the workhorse timestamp — it updates whenever a file's contents change and is what incremental-sync logic compares to decide whether a file needs re-transferring. It is the most reliably supported of the three across servers and filesystems, which is why timestamp-based sync keys off it.

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C#
bool success = false;

//  Demonstrates the SFtp.GetFileLastModifiedStr method, which returns a remote file's last-modified
//  date and time.  The 1st argument is the remote path (or handle), the 2nd selects whether
//  symbolic links are followed, and the 3rd indicates whether the 1st argument is a handle.

Chilkat.SFtp sftp = new Chilkat.SFtp();

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
int port = 22;
success = sftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",port);
if (success == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
//  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
string password = "mySshPassword";

success = sftp.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password);
if (success == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

success = sftp.InitializeSftp();
if (success == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  The 2nd argument (bFollowLinks) selects whether a symbolic link is followed to its target.
//  The 3rd argument (bIsHandle) is false here because the 1st argument is a path, not an
//  open handle.
bool bFollowLinks = true;
bool bIsHandle = false;

string lastModified = sftp.GetFileLastModifiedStr("subdir/report.pdf",bFollowLinks,bIsHandle);
if (sftp.LastMethodSuccess == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

Debug.WriteLine("Last modified: " + lastModified);

sftp.Disconnect();