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Pascal (Lazarus/Delphi)

Get a Remote File's Last-Access Time

See more SFTP Examples

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.GetFileLastAccessStr method, which returns a remote file's last-access 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 access time is meant to update whenever a file is read, but in practice it is often unreliable: many systems mount filesystems with options like noatime to avoid a disk write on every read, so the value may not reflect recent reads. Treat it as a hint rather than an authoritative record of when a file was last opened.

Chilkat Pascal (Lazarus/Delphi) Downloads

Pascal (Lazarus/Delphi)
program ChilkatDemo;

// Demonstrates using the Chilkat Pascal wrapper via the C bridge DLL.
// Builds as a console application under Lazarus (FPC) or Delphi.

{$IFDEF FPC}
  {$MODE DELPHI}
{$ENDIF}
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  {$IFDEF UNIX}
  cthreads,
  {$ENDIF}
  SysUtils,
  CkDllLoader,
  Chilkat.SFtp;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

procedure RunDemo;
var
  success: Boolean;
  sftp: TSFtp;
  port: Integer;
  password: string;
  bFollowLinks: Boolean;
  bIsHandle: Boolean;
  lastAccess: string;

begin
  success := False;

  //  Demonstrates the SFtp.GetFileLastAccessStr method, which returns a remote file's last-access
  //  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.

  sftp := TSFtp.Create;

  //  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
  port := 22;
  success := sftp.Connect('sftp.example.com',port);
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(sftp.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  //  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.
  password := 'mySshPassword';

  success := sftp.AuthenticatePw('mySshLogin',password);
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(sftp.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  success := sftp.InitializeSftp();
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(sftp.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  //  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.
  bFollowLinks := True;
  bIsHandle := False;

  lastAccess := sftp.GetFileLastAccessStr('subdir/report.pdf',bFollowLinks,bIsHandle);
  if (sftp.LastMethodSuccess = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(sftp.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;
  WriteLn('Last accessed: ' + lastAccess);

  sftp.Disconnect();


  sftp.Free;

end;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

begin

  try
    RunDemo;
  except
    on E: Exception do
      WriteLn('Unhandled exception: ', E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;

  WriteLn;
  {$IFDEF MSWINDOWS}
  WriteLn('Press Enter to exit...');
  ReadLn;
  {$ENDIF}
end.