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class method

File.ctime

(::path | ::IO file_name) -> ::Time

File.ctime(object) → time

static VALUE
rb_file_s_ctime(VALUE klass, VALUE fname)
{
    struct stat st;

    if (rb_stat(fname, &st) < 0) {
        int e = errno;
        FilePathValue(fname);
        rb_syserr_fail_path(e, fname);
    }
    return stat_time(stat_ctimespec(&st));
}

On Windows, returns the birthtime for object.

On other systems, returns a new Time object containing the time of the most recent metadata change to the entry represented by object, which is a string path or an IO object; see File System Timestamps:

Example

dirpath = '/tmp/dir'
Dir.mkdir(dirpath)
File.ctime(dirpath)                    # => 2026-10-05 16:24:40.347201215 -0500
# Create file therein; file ctime established; directory ctime updated.
filepath = File.join(dirpath, 't.tmp') # => "/tmp/dir/t.tmp"
File.write(filepath, 'foo')
File.ctime(dirpath)                    # => 2026-10-05 16:25:34.790762181 -0500
File.ctime(filepath)                   # => 2026-10-05 16:25:34.790762181 -0500
# Write file; file ctime updated; directory ctime not updated.
File.write(filepath, 'bar')
File.ctime(dirpath)                    # => 2026-10-05 16:25:34.790762181 -0500
File.ctime(filepath)                   # => 2026-10-05 16:26:23.030432041 -0500
# Read file; neither ctime updated.
File.read(filepath)
File.ctime(dirpath)                    # => 2026-10-05 16:25:34.790762181 -0500
File.ctime(filepath)                   # => 2026-10-05 16:26:23.030432041 -0500
FileUtils.rm_rf(dirpath)               # Clean up.

See also #ctime .chown .delete .chmod also in 4.0 · 3.4 · 3.3 · 3.2 · 3.1 · 3.0

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