This console application compares the timestamps of two files whose names are passed on the command line. It returns an exit code that indicates the result. The result is 1 if the comparison is true or 0 if it is false. If an error occurs a return code of ≥ 100
Both Windows (64 and 32 bit) and Linux (64 bit) versions of the program are available.
Timestamps are read in the highest accuracy supported by the platform, which is the nearest 100 ns on Windows and the nearest 1 ns on Linux. The timestamps can be compared using logical comparison operators. The program can compare either the last modification date, last access date, creation date (Windows only) or the last status change (Linux only).
Symlinks can optionally be expanded before dates are compared. On Windows shortcut files can also be expanded.
By default the the program writes no information to the console and the user must examine the program's exit code to determine the result. However two different levels of verbosity can be selected – "verbose" and "extra verbose" – both of which print information about the comparison to standard output.
When using the "extra verbose" the file timestamps are displayed. The user has the choice or whether these dates are displayed in local time or in UTC, and whether the date is in ISO-8601 format or in the format appropriate to the user's locale.
For a full description of command line options and available comparison operators, run CompFileDate with the --help option.