all Python 3osfunction

os.path.getatime

os.path — metadata (stat)

Return the last-access time of a file (seconds since the epoch).

Syntax

os.path.getatime(path)

The value is often untrustworthy: Linux usually mounts disks with relatime or noatime, so access time is updated rarely or not at all. Basing logic such as "delete files not opened for a long time" on it is therefore risky. Reading the file itself, where atime is updated, moves the value.

Examples

import os
import time
print(os.path.getatime(os.__file__) > 0)   # → True
print(os.path.getatime(os.__file__) == os.stat(os.__file__).st_atime)   # → True: getatime — это просто os.stat(path).st_atime
print(time.ctime(os.path.getatime(os.__file__)))   # → время последнего доступа в читаемом виде, например Tue Jul 21 10:15:03 2026 (на ФС с noatime/relatime оно не обновляется при каждом чтении)
print(os.path.getatime(os.__file__) <= time.time())   # → True: время доступа не может быть в будущем
print(os.path.getatime('нет-такого-файла'))   # → FileNotFoundError

See also

Common errors

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