C:\>del pid.txt C:\>perl -lwe "print(':'.localtime((stat 'pid.txt')[10]))" Use of uninitialized value in localtime at -e line 1. :Thu Jan 1 01:00:00 1970 C:\>echo 8750 >pid.txt C:\>perl -lwe "print(':'.localtime((stat 'pid.txt')[10]))" :Tue Sep 20 11:30:49 2011