Get file modification date? [duplicate]

Question

I use the following code to get modification date of file if it exists:

if os.path.isfile(file_name):     last_modified_date = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getmtime(file_name)) else:     last_modified_date = datetime.fromtimestamp(0) 

Is there a more elegant/short way?

Answer 1

You could use exception handling; no need to first test if the file is there, just catch the exception if it is not:

try:     mtime = os.path.getmtime(file_name) except OSError:     mtime = 0 last_modified_date = datetime.fromtimestamp(mtime) 

This is asking for forgiveness rather than permission.