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Xbase++

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.

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Xbase++
LOCAL nSuccess
LOCAL oSftp
LOCAL nPort
LOCAL cPassword
LOCAL nBFollowLinks
LOCAL nBIsHandle
LOCAL cLastAccess

nSuccess := 0

//  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.

oSftp := CreateObject("Chilkat.SFtp")

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
nPort := 22
nSuccess := oSftp:Connect("sftp.example.com", nPort)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  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.
cPassword := "mySshPassword"

nSuccess := oSftp:AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin", cPassword)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

nSuccess := oSftp:InitializeSftp()
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  The 2nd argument (bFollowLinks) selects whether a symbolic link is followed to its target.
//  The 3rd argument (bIsHandle) is 0 here because the 1st argument is a path, not an
//  open handle.
nBFollowLinks := 1
nBIsHandle := 0

cLastAccess := oSftp:GetFileLastAccessStr("subdir/report.pdf", nBFollowLinks, nBIsHandle)
IF (oSftp:LastMethodSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

? "Last accessed: " + cLastAccess

oSftp:Disconnect()

oSftp:destroy()