ctime pitfall

                  We can get the time information of a file from python using the following code:

1. 

       import os.path, time

       modify_time = time.ctime(os.path.getmtime(file))

       create_time = time.ctime(os.path.getctime(file))

       access_time = time.ctime(os.path.getatime(file))

2.

       import os, time

       sts = os.stat(file)

      # sts include (mode, ino, dev, nlink, uid, gid, size, atime, mtime, ctime).

We are more interested in the time information of a file in this article.

And in the codes above, we can pick out the access time, modification time, and an ambiguous ctime.

I'll put things in short:

access time: the time you last read a file.

modification time: you modify the content of a file.

ctime are different on windows from linux.

On windows: 

         the ctime would be the creation time.   You may try doing changes to the file (rename, edit, etc.), it keeps the same.

On linux:

        the ctime would be the change tme.  

         This means:  rename, access permission change or changing any other information in the file's inode would cause the ctime to change.

So, be careful, though python is cross-platform, you won't get the same thing using os.path.getctime() all the time.