I've read the part about these being variable Note
The exact meaning and resolution of the st_atime, st_mtime, andst_ctime members depends on the operating system and the file system. For example, on Windows systems using the FAT or FAT32 file systems, st_mtimehas 2-second resolution, and st_atime has only 1-day resolution. See your operating system documentation for details. However, given the fact that NTFS supports 100ns resolution, the results here just look wrong. st_ctime doesn't show a different time until there is a ~15 second gap in the creation times (then however is shows the full time gap) Notice Linux doesn't do this, the times look normal. Seems strange to break cross platform compatibility like this... Here is the test code: import os import time def runtest(sleepSecs): print "Sleeping: " + str(sleepSecs) fA = open("A", "w") fA.close(); if sleepSecs: time.sleep(sleepSecs) fB = open("B", "w") fB.close(); info = os.stat("A") print "A:",info.st_ctime, info.st_mtime, info.st_atime info = os.stat("B") print "B:",info.st_ctime, info.st_mtime, info.st_atime os.remove("A") os.remove("B") When run under Win7 on NTFS for i in range(1,20): runtest(i) >>> for i in range(0,20): ... stattest.runtest(i) ... Sleeping: 0 A: 1286770829.44 1286770829.44 1286770829.44 B: 1286770829.44 1286770829.44 1286770829.44 Sleeping: 1 A: 1286770829.44 1286770829.44 1286770829.44 B: 1286770829.44 1286770830.44 1286770830.44 Sleeping: 2 A: 1286770829.44 1286770830.45 1286770830.45 B: 1286770829.44 1286770832.45 1286770832.45 Sleeping: 3 A: 1286770829.44 1286770832.46 1286770832.46 B: 1286770829.44 1286770835.46 1286770835.46 Sleeping: 4 A: 1286770829.44 1286770835.47 1286770835.47 B: 1286770829.44 1286770839.47 1286770839.47 Sleeping: 5 A: 1286770829.44 1286770839.48 1286770839.48 B: 1286770829.44 1286770844.48 1286770844.48 Sleeping: 6 A: 1286770829.44 1286770844.49 1286770844.49 B: 1286770829.44 1286770850.49 1286770850.49 Sleeping: 7 A: 1286770829.44 1286770850.5 1286770850.5 B: 1286770829.44 1286770857.5 1286770857.5 Sleeping: 8 A: 1286770829.44 1286770857.51 1286770857.51 B: 1286770829.44 1286770865.51 1286770865.51 Sleeping: 9 A: 1286770829.44 1286770865.52 1286770865.52 B: 1286770829.44 1286770874.52 1286770874.52 Sleeping: 10 A: 1286770829.44 1286770874.52 1286770874.52 B: 1286770829.44 1286770884.53 1286770884.53 Sleeping: 11 A: 1286770829.44 1286770884.56 1286770884.56 B: 1286770829.44 1286770895.56 1286770895.56 Sleeping: 12 A: 1286770829.44 1286770895.57 1286770895.57 B: 1286770829.44 1286770907.57 1286770907.57 Sleeping: 13 A: 1286770829.44 1286770907.58 1286770907.58 B: 1286770829.44 1286770920.58 1286770920.58 Sleeping: 14 A: 1286770829.44 1286770920.59 1286770920.59 B: 1286770829.44 1286770934.59 1286770934.59 *Sleeping: 15* *A: 1286770829.44 1286770934.6 1286770934.6* *B: 1286770949.6 1286770949.6 1286770949.6* Sleeping: 16 A: 1286770829.44 1286770949.61 1286770949.61 B: 1286770965.61 1286770965.61 1286770965.61 Sleeping: 17 A: 1286770829.44 1286770965.62 1286770965.62 B: 1286770982.62 1286770982.62 1286770982.62 Sleeping: 18 A: 1286770829.44 1286770982.63 1286770982.63 B: 1286771000.63 1286771000.63 1286771000.63 Sleeping: 19 A: 1286770829.44 1286771000.63 1286771000.63 B: 1286771019.63 1286771019.63 1286771019.63
-- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list