Getting "Date Added" attribute for a file with nanosecond precision
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gstat
can show several timestamps with **nanosecond precision**, including:
- **Access time (atime)**
- **Modify time (mtime)**
- **Change time (ctime)**
- **Birth time (btime)**
Example output:
$ gstat /path/to/file
Access: 2025-01-14 08:25:18.137794004 +0100
Modify: 2025-01-14 08:25:18.120619368 +0100
Change: 2025-01-14 08:25:18.120619368 +0100
Birth: 2009-11-26 12:57:46.000000000 +0100
However, **Date Added is not included in gstat
’s output.**
Finder is able to sort files by **Date Added** even when multiple files are created within the same second, meaning macOS must store this attribute with sub-second precision. But I haven’t found a way to retrieve it.
So far, the only ways I’ve found to get **Date Added** are:
- **Finder list view** → Displays **minute-level precision** (e.g., *Dec 27, 2023 at 4:06 AM*).
- **mdls
** → Shows kMDItemDateAdded
, but only with **second-level precision**:
$ mdls -name kMDItemDateAdded /path/to/file
kMDItemDateAdded = 2023-12-27 09:06:44 +0000
How would I obtain the "Date Added" attribute for a file with nanosecond precision?
Asked by Oion Akif
(9414 rep)
Mar 16, 2025, 06:48 PM
Last activity: Mar 17, 2025, 06:34 AM
Last activity: Mar 17, 2025, 06:34 AM