[Kc] File Stats

[djgoku]

What is the best way to keep track that a certain file is the same one
that has been previously looked/opened at.

I thought MD5 sums would be a good way but it seems that with the
files I am working with (excel spreadsheets) this isn't a viable
solution. Since once you open an excel spreadsheet (and not making any
changes) somehow modifies the MD5 sum. One way to fix this (fix it so
I don't change the MD5 when using my parser) is to copy the file then
open the copy and delete the copy afterwords. But I am not sure this
is the best solution, since I can't stop others from opening the file
in turn changing the MD5. My current solution is to use file path,
filename, file size/modified/changed to determine if this is the same
file I have parsed previously which is saved in a text file
(filename.info). This file is then later parsed if the same
filename.info exist when running my parser.

Jonathan