How To Set File Last Write Time in C#

The SetLastWriteTime method of the File class is sets the last write date and time a file was written at. The method is a static method and expects the full path and a DateTime object. 

Here is a complete code sample that creates a new file if file does not exists and sets its last write time. 

 

using System;
using System.IO;

namespace GetSetFileLastWriteTimeSample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            try
            {
                string filename = @"c:\Temp\CSharpCorner.txt";
                if (!File.Exists(filename))
                {
                    File.Create(filename);
                }
                else
                {
                    // Set LastWriteTime
                    File.SetLastWriteTime(filename, new DateTime(2000, 1, 1));
                }

                // Get time
                DateTime dt = File.GetLastWriteTime(filename);
                Console.WriteLine("The last write time for this file was {0}.", dt);

                // Set last write time
                File.SetLastWriteTime(filename, DateTime.Now);

            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString());
            }

            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}