Python OS X - get 'date added' info from file

Question

Hello it's my first post.

I started doing some coding in Python on OS X today.

I've noticed that OS X has such thing as a date added which is the time the file was put into specified folder.

I'm trying to get that date as a timestamp, however none of types work.

I've tried all three I know:

st = os.path.getctime('Untitled.gif')
st1 = os.path.getatime('Untitled.gif')
st2 = os.path.getmtime('Untitled.gif')

But none of them shows what I need. Maybe there's a way to get all metadata from file somehow and just pick the info I need.

Thanks

Similar question but within Mac terminal: Access the file "date added" in terminal — Shahrokh Bah
– Shahrokh Bah, Commented Sep 8, 2021 at 14:18

khagler · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-21 21:30:08Z

4

You can get this information with the mdls command, called via subprocess:

import subprocess
st = subprocess.check_output(["mdls", "-name", "kMDItemDateAdded", "-raw", "Untitled.gif"])

answered Jun 21, 2015 at 21:30

khagler

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Comments

Shahrokh Bah · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-08 14:11:16Z

It seems st_ctime (the time of most recent metadata change on Unix) is the closest attribute to "Date Added" on Mac that the class os.stat_result offers—which at a time resembles "Date Added" for some files yet at another time doesn't for the same files!

import os
import datetime


st_result = os.stat('Untitled.gif')
ts = st_result.st_ctime
dt = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(ts)
print(dt)

Sample output:

2021-09-08 15:10:22.602768

If I wish to interpret st_ctime as "Date Added," I should manually check if it correctly holds "Date Added" for all the intended files—e.g. sorting the files in a terminal by ctime with ls -ltc | head -n NUMBER_OF_LINES_I_WANT_TO_SEE; then corresponding their order with the order I see on a finder sorted by "Date Added."

ctime is the change time. So when either the contents or an attribute (file permission, ownership) was last changed. Perhaps when you first download a file, that is also the time the inode is created, so the ctime is the added time. However, as soon as you modify the file, the ctime will get update, and no longer reflects the download time.

Amit Kumar Gupta · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-21 21:31:23Z

-1

Try os.stat('Untitled.gif').st_birthtime. More info on os.stat can be found here.

answered Jun 21, 2015 at 21:31

Amit Kumar Gupta

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1 Comment

Miles Over a year ago

Birthtime is file creation date, not the date added to the directory.

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