File.GetLastWriteTime() Method in C# with Examples

Last Updated : 25 Apr, 2025

File.GetLastWriteTime(String) is an inbuilt File class method which is used to return the date and time the specified file or directory was last written to.
Syntax:

public static DateTime GetLastWriteTime (string path);

Parameter: This function accepts a parameter which is illustrated below:

path: This is the specified file path.

Exceptions:

UnauthorizedAccessException: The caller does not have the required permission.
ArgumentException: The path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or one or more invalid characters as defined by InvalidPathChars.
ArgumentNullException: The path is null.
PathTooLongException: The given path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length.
NotSupportedException: The path is in an invalid format.

Return Value: Returns the date and time the specified file or directory was last written to.
Below are the programs to illustrate the File.GetLastWriteTime(String) method.
Program 1: Before running the below code, a file file.txt is created with some contents shown below:

C#

// C# program to illustrate the usage 
// of File.GetLastWriteTime(String) method 
  
// Using System and System.IO namespaces 
using System; 
using System.IO; 
  
class GFG { 
    public static void Main() 
    { 
        // Specifying a file 
        string myfile = @"file.txt"; 
  
        // Calling GetLastWriteTime() function 
        DateTime dt = File.GetLastWriteTime(myfile); 
  
        // Getting the last write time 
        Console.WriteLine("The last write time for this file was {0}.", dt); 
    } 
} 

Executing:

The last write time for this file was 4/19/2020 4:43:24 AM.

Program 2: Before running the below code, a file was created shown below:

C#

// C# program to illustrate the usage 
// of File.GetLastWriteTime(String) method 
  
// Using System and System.IO namespaces 
using System; 
using System.IO; 
  
class GFG { 
    public static void Main() 
    { 
        // Specifying a file 
        string myfile = @"file.txt"; 
  
        // Setting the date 
        File.SetLastWriteTime(myfile, new DateTime(2020, 4, 3)); 
  
        // Calling GetLastWriteTime() function 
        DateTime dt = File.GetLastWriteTime(myfile); 
  
        // Getting the last write time 
        Console.WriteLine("The last write time for this file was {0}.", dt); 
    } 
} 

Executing:

The last write time for this file was 4/3/2020 12:00:00 AM.

File.GetAttributes() Method in C# with Examples

Kanchan_Ray

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File.GetLastWriteTime() Method in C# with Examples

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