Swift

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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func chilkatTest() {
    var success: Bool = false

    //  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 = 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 1st argument is a path, so bIsHandle is false.
    var bIsHandle: Bool = false
    var dateTimeStr: String? = "Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:15:30 -0600"
    success = sftp.setCreateTimeStr(pathOrHandle: "subdir/report.pdf", bIsHandle: bIsHandle, createTimeStr: dateTimeStr)
    if success == false {
        print("\(sftp.lastErrorText!)")
        return
    }

    print("Creation time set.")

    sftp.disconnect()

}