Java

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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Chilkat2 Java

import com.chilkatsoft.chilkat2.ChilkatException;
import com.chilkatsoft.chilkat2.SFtp;

public class ChilkatExample {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // 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.

        SFtp sftp = new SFtp();

        // Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
        int port = 22;
        try {
            sftp.connect("sftp.example.com", port);
        } catch (ChilkatException e) {
            System.out.println(e.getLastErrorText());
            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";

        try {
            sftp.authenticatePw("mySshLogin", password);

            sftp.initializeSftp();
        } catch (ChilkatException e) {
            System.out.println(e.getLastErrorText());
            return;
        }

        // The 1st argument is a path, so bIsHandle is false.
        boolean bIsHandle = false;
        String dateTimeStr = "Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:15:30 -0600";
        try {
            sftp.setCreateTimeStr("subdir/report.pdf", bIsHandle, dateTimeStr);
        } catch (ChilkatException e) {
            System.out.println(e.getLastErrorText());
            return;
        }

        System.out.println("Creation time set.");

        sftp.disconnect();
    }
}