we have a directory directory and a symlink pointing to it symlink -> directory. Symlink is updated periodically (recreated) but the directory is updated much less often.
Problem: find out what was the directory update time (ctime) using python.
Approach: using os.stat, documentation says it follows symlinks (in python 2).
Debug:
ls -lah symlink # gives me 8:04
ls -lahd symlink # gives me 8:04
ls -lahd symlink/ # gives me 6:55
ls -lahd directory # gives me 6:55
6.55 is what i want to get using python os.stat
in python
from stat import S_ISREG, S_ISDIR, S_ISLNK
import os
f = 'symlink/'
st=os.stat(f)
print(S_ISLNK(st.st_mode), S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)
I get False, True (by the way, the same if i run it on f='symlink')
That's it it says it's a directory
However,
st[-1] (which corresponds to st_ctime) will give me an equivalent of 8:04
Question: How to query in python ctime of a directory having a symlink to it?
Thank you