Get the creation time of a file in C#

To get the creation time of a file in C#, you can use the CreationTime property of the FileInfo class or the static methods from the File class. This allows you to retrieve when a file was originally created on the file system.

Syntax

Using the FileInfo class −

FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo("filename.txt");
DateTime creationTime = fileInfo.CreationTime;

Using the static File class −

DateTime creationTime = File.GetCreationTime("filename.txt");

Using FileInfo Class

The FileInfo class provides an object-oriented approach to work with file information. Create a FileInfo object and access its CreationTime property −

using System.IO;
using System;

public class Program {
    public static void Main() {
        using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("qa.txt")) {
            sw.WriteLine("Questions and Answers!");
        }
        
        FileInfo file = new FileInfo("qa.txt");
        DateTime dt = file.CreationTime;
        Console.WriteLine("File creation time: " + dt);
    }
}

The output of the above code is −

File creation time: 9/5/2018 5:20:03 AM

Using File.GetCreationTime() Method

The static File.GetCreationTime() method provides a simpler approach without creating a FileInfo object −

using System.IO;
using System;

public class Program {
    public static void Main() {
        using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("sample.txt")) {
            sw.WriteLine("Sample file content");
        }
        
        DateTime creationTime = File.GetCreationTime("sample.txt");
        Console.WriteLine("Creation time: " + creationTime);
        Console.WriteLine("Creation date only: " + creationTime.ToShortDateString());
        Console.WriteLine("Creation time only: " + creationTime.ToShortTimeString());
    }
}

The output of the above code is −

Creation time: 9/5/2018 5:20:03 AM
Creation date only: 9/5/2018
Creation time only: 5:20 AM

Using CreationTimeUtc for UTC Time

For getting the creation time in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), use CreationTimeUtc property or File.GetCreationTimeUtc() method −

using System.IO;
using System;

public class Program {
    public static void Main() {
        using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("utc_test.txt")) {
            sw.WriteLine("UTC time test");
        }
        
        FileInfo file = new FileInfo("utc_test.txt");
        Console.WriteLine("Local time: " + file.CreationTime);
        Console.WriteLine("UTC time: " + file.CreationTimeUtc);
        
        // Using static method
        DateTime utcTime = File.GetCreationTimeUtc("utc_test.txt");
        Console.WriteLine("UTC via File class: " + utcTime);
    }
}

The output of the above code is −

Local time: 9/5/2018 5:20:03 AM
UTC time: 9/5/2018 10:20:03 AM
UTC via File class: 9/5/2018 10:20:03 AM

Comparison

Conclusion

Getting file creation time in C# can be accomplished using either the FileInfo class properties or the static File class methods. Choose FileInfo when working with multiple file attributes, or use File.GetCreationTime() for simple, one-time retrieval of creation timestamps.