Dart

Set a Remote File's Creation Time

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.SetCreateTimeStr method, which sets a remote file's creation date and time. The arguments are the remote path (or handle), whether the first argument is a handle, and an RFC 822 formatted date/time string such as Fri, 21 Nov 1997 09:55:06 -0600.

Background: Setting timestamps matters when preserving a file's original chronology — migrating an archive, restoring a backup, or mirroring a directory so the copies look identical to the source. Whether creation time can actually be set depends on the server and filesystem; many do not support a settable creation time even when they can set the modified and accessed times. The RFC 822 format includes a timezone offset, so the moment is unambiguous.

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Dart

import 'package:chilkat/chilkat.dart';

void main() {
  // Demonstrates the SFtp.SetCreateTimeStr method, which sets a remote file's creation date and
  // time.  The 1st argument is the remote path (or handle), the 2nd (bIsHandle) indicates which,
  // and the 3rd is an RFC 822 formatted date/time string.

  final sftp = CkSFtp();

  // Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
  final port = 22;
  try {
    sftp.connect('sftp.example.com', port);
  } on ChilkatException catch (e) {
    print(e.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.
  final password = 'mySshPassword';

  try {
    sftp.authenticatePw('mySshLogin', password);
  } on ChilkatException catch (e) {
    print(e.lastErrorText);
    return;
  }

  try {
    sftp.initializeSftp();
  } on ChilkatException catch (e) {
    print(e.lastErrorText);
    return;
  }

  // The 1st argument is a path, so bIsHandle is false.
  final bIsHandle = false;
  final dateTimeStr = 'Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:15:30 -0600';
  try {
    sftp.setCreateTimeStr('subdir/report.pdf', bIsHandle, dateTimeStr);
  } on ChilkatException catch (e) {
    print(e.lastErrorText);
    return;
  }

  print('Creation time set.');

  sftp.disconnect();
}