The parameter atime defines the last access time. Seems you want that? But that is apparently not the same as the date you use in Finder.
See ls -lu for the date atime uses.
Mac OS X also uses the "HFS meta data" (or: "Finder info") to store dates. For example: Unix does not store file creation dates. The cdate in Unix is really the change date (including, for example, changes in access permissions, so cdate gets a new value in slightly different occasions than the modification date for mdate). Using this metadata, Mac OS X can still keep the details.
There are several options to show (some of) those dates, like:
stat file.txt
GetFileInfo file.txt
mdls file.txt
Using mdfind one can search for specific meta data. But it uses the Spotlight index, so I guess it might not find everything.
Like to find files that are excluded from Time Machine backups:
sudo mdfind "com_apple_backup_excludeItem = 'com.apple.backupd'"
To search based on the creation date, use kMDItemFSCreationDate. For the last opened date: kMDItemLastUsedDate. But note that files which have been created through certain Terminal commands, may not have that meta data set:
echo "Hello world" > ~/Desktop/hello-world.txt
touch ~/Desktop/will-not-be-found.txt
mdfind -onlyin ~/Desktop 'kMDItemFSCreationDate >= $time.this_week'
After opening "will-not-be-found.txt" in Text Edit, you'll see the file after all.
See also the Spotlight Query Syntax.
Best Answer
or (for reverse, most recent at bottom):
The
lsman page describes this in more details, and lists other options.