-ctime & -mtime difference in find command ?

[Sammy_2]

Why -ctime yields no result but -mtime yields
1 result (as expected) ? I would expect both
to work alike . Thanks

# date
Thu Dec 15 10:22:23 EST 2005
# touch -mt 12011259 ahd_12_15_05.log
# ll ahd_12_15_05.log
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 0 Dec 1 12:59 ahd_12_15_05.log
# find $APP_LOG -name 'ahd*log' -ctime +10

# find $APP_LOG -name 'ahd*log' -mtime +10
/opt/hpws/apache/logs/ahd_12_15_05.log

[Eric Antunes]

Hi Sammy,

ctime is Creation time and mtime is Modification time. So it is expected to act differently. See "man find" for more info...

Best Regards,

Eric Antunes

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi Sammy:

The 'ctime' of a file represents the last inode change --- change in permissions, ownership, name.

The 'mtime' is the last modification time of a file or directory.

The 'atime' is the last access time.

There is *no* creation time recorded. The only time (no pun) that you reveal the creation time is when the file (or directory) has never been modified since its creattion. Then, and only then, is 'mtime' a creation time.

If you use 'fbackup' beware that the 'ctime' of the files you backup will be changed. This is because 'fbackup' reset the file's lat access timestamp ('atime'). In doing so, the the 'ctime' is changed because the operation updated the inode information.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Sammy_2]

Thanks to both. thanks JRF for the tip on fbackups.