python: which file is newer & by how much time

Question

I am trying to create a filedate comparison routine. I suspect that the following is a rather clunky approach.

I had some difficulty finding info about timedelta's attributes or methods, or whatever they are called; hence, I measured the datetime difference below only in terms of days, minutes and seconds, and there is no list item representing years.

Any suggestions for an alternative, would be much appreciated.

import os
import datetime
from datetime import datetime
import sys

def datetime_filedif(filepath1e, filepath2e):
    filelpath1 = str(filepath1e)
    filepath1 = str(filepath1e)
    filepath2 = str(filepath2e)

    filepath1_lmdate = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getmtime(filepath1))
    filepath2_lmdate = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getmtime(filepath2))

    td_files = filepath2_lmdate - filepath1_lmdate #Time delta of the 2 filedates
    td_list = [('td_files.days', td_files.days), ('td_hrs', int(str(td_files.seconds))/3600), ('td_minutes', (int(str(td_files.seconds))%3600)/60), ('td_seconds', (int(str(td_files.seconds))%3600)%60)]

    print "Line 25: ", str(td_list)

    return td_list

Answer 1

There is a solution for that already:

import os
modified_time = os.stat(path).st_mtime # time of most recent content modification
diff_time = os.stat(path_1).st_mtime - os.stat(path_2).st_mtime

Now you have the time in seconds since Epoch. why are you creating a new representation, you can create a deltatime or whatever from this, why invent a new format?