Rust

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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Rust


// 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.

let sftp = chilkat::SFtp::new();

// Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
let port = 22;
if sftp.connect("sftp.example.com", port).is_err() {
    println!("{}", sftp.last_error_text());
    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.
let password = "mySshPassword".to_string();

if sftp.authenticate_pw("mySshLogin", &password).is_err() {
    println!("{}", sftp.last_error_text());
    return;
}

if sftp.initialize_sftp().is_err() {
    println!("{}", sftp.last_error_text());
    return;
}

// The 1st argument is a path, so bIsHandle is false.
let b_is_handle = false;
let date_time_str = "Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:15:30 -0600".to_string();
if sftp.set_create_time_str("subdir/report.pdf", b_is_handle, &date_time_str).is_err() {
    println!("{}", sftp.last_error_text());
    return;
}

println!("Creation time set.");

sftp.disconnect();