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HOWTO - File Timestamps - how old is a file?

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# 1  
Old 03-02-2011
HOWTO - File Timestamps - how old is a file?
Hi all,

Can anyone please advise how to get/display the timestamp of a file and at the same time display how old the file is?

For example, if I have a file that is created on January 01, 2011 at 1000 and today is January 03, 2011 2200, I want a script to be able to display the timestamp creation of the file, i.e. display January 01, 2011 1000 and at the same time report that it is 2 days and 12 hours old.

What am trying to do is to check the timestamp of my backup files. I have a script that create backups of my database so I want to be able to check on a daily basis the creation date of each backup files and if I don't have a backup files in the last 2 days / 24 hours, then I send out an email.

Any advise on how to get about writing a script like this will be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
# 2  
Old 03-02-2011
See this thread: https://www.unix.com/shell-programmin...ifference.html
# 3  
Old 03-02-2011
There is no "file creation timestamp" in unix. The nearest is the last modified timestamp of the inode. Beware that some backup software changes this timestamp.
It is good practice to include an apppropriate timestamp in the filename or directory name of a backup.


The "last modified" timestamp is usually good enough. This is the timestamp used by "ls -la".
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