After having some time think this over i'd like to make some clarifications but, first off, thanks goes RudiC and drl for pointing it out to me that what i wrote was misleading, especially for the beginner. So, here it goes:

As i said, every file has several timestamps which stand for different things. But first, let us clarifiy what a "file" is in UNIX: a file is - obviously - a bunch of data stored on a "filesystem". There are (other than in Windows) different filesystems to choose from but it comes down to basically store the data somewhere in an organised form. But then there is a second aspect of this because we also need "meta data" - data about the data stored this way - to really make use of it. We i.e. need a "filename" by which we can address it. Notice that the files name is NOT part of the file - it is part of the set of descriptive items stored about the file.

So, we have the "file" and we have its "meta data". In UNIX filesystems these meta data are stored in "inodes". Inodes have a structured, record-like format which can (and does) vary across filesystems but within the same filesystem they are uniform. The different timestamps i talked about are located in these inodes.

I will skip (if you are interested - ask explicitly) the intrinsics of the inode (there is a lot - filesystem tuning, links, rights management, ...) and concentrate on the timestamps of a file. Always keep in mind, though, that slight differences might occur across different filesystems. I will mostly forego these differences to give you an overall picture first. You may tell us which filesystem you have so we can add details to this picture in a follow-up:

There are three timestamps which are common throughout all filesystems:

Thanks again to RudiC and drl for their valuable input in this.

I hope this helps.

bakunin