The filectime Function

The filectime function returns the file creation time as a Unix timestamp - the number of seconds since 1 January 1970. The function takes the file path as a parameter. If the file does not exist, the function will return false.

Syntax

phpfilectime(filename);

Example

Get the creation time of the current file and output it in a human-readable format:

php<?php
  $filename = __FILE__;
  $timestamp = filectime($filename);
  echo "File created: " . date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $timestamp);
?>

Code execution result:

php'File created: 2023-05-15 14:30:22'

Example

Check if the file exists before getting its creation time:

php<?php
  $filename = 'test.txt';
  if (file_exists($filename)) {
    echo "File created: " . date("Y-m-d H:i:s", filectime($filename));
  } else {
    echo "File not found";
  }
?>

Code execution result (if the file does not exist):

php'File not found'

See Also