PHP ActiveX

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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<?php

$success = 0;

//  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 = new COM("Chilkat.SFtp");

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
$port = 22;
$success = $sftp->Connect('sftp.example.com',$port);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $sftp->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

//  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 == 0) {
    print $sftp->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

$success = $sftp->InitializeSftp();
if ($success == 0) {
    print $sftp->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

//  The 1st argument is a path, so bIsHandle is 0.
$bIsHandle = 0;
$dateTimeStr = 'Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:15:30 -0600';
$success = $sftp->SetCreateTimeStr('subdir/report.pdf',$bIsHandle,$dateTimeStr);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $sftp->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

print 'Creation time set.' . "\n";

$sftp->Disconnect();

?>