Swift

Get a Remote File's Creation Time

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.GetFileCreateTimeStr method, which returns a remote file's creation 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: Creation time is the least universally available of the three timestamps: many Unix filesystems historically tracked only modified and accessed times, so a server may return nothing or a placeholder. Where it is supported it is genuinely useful — it does not change when a file is edited, unlike the modified time — but code should tolerate its absence rather than depend on it.

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func chilkatTest() {
    var success: Bool = false

    //  Demonstrates the SFtp.GetFileCreateTimeStr method, which returns a remote file's creation 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.

    let sftp = CkoSFtp()!

    //  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
    var port: Int = 22
    success = sftp.connect(hostname: "sftp.example.com", port: port)
    if success == false {
        print("\(sftp.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.
    var password: String? = "mySshPassword"

    success = sftp.authenticatePw(login: "mySshLogin", password: password)
    if success == false {
        print("\(sftp.lastErrorText!)")
        return
    }

    success = sftp.initializeSftp()
    if success == false {
        print("\(sftp.lastErrorText!)")
        return
    }

    //  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.
    var bFollowLinks: Bool = true
    var bIsHandle: Bool = false

    var createTime: String? = sftp.getFileCreateTimeStr(pathOrHandle: "subdir/report.pdf", bFollowLinks: bFollowLinks, bIsHandle: bIsHandle)
    if sftp.lastMethodSuccess == false {
        print("\(sftp.lastErrorText!)")
        return
    }

    print("Created: \(createTime!)")

    //  Note: Not all servers and filesystems record a creation time.

    sftp.disconnect()

}