Assume there’s a file @ /home/user/testmsg.txt
If you want to change the file timestamp to 09/20/2011 08:30 using touch command, here’s how you can do it:
Code:
# Only change the last accessed time
touch -t -a 20111020083000 /home/user/testmsg.txt
# Only change the last modified time
touch -t -m 20111020083000 /home/user/testmsg.txt
# Change both the times - modified and accessed times
touch -t 20111020083000 /home/user/testmsg.txt
Command:
touch is a standard Unix program used to change a file‘s access and modification timestamps. It is also used to create a new empty file.
Syntax:
touch [-a] [-c] [-m] [-r ref_file | -t time ] file
settime [ -f ref_file ] file
-a -> Change the access time of file. Do not change the modification time unless -m is also specified.
-c -> Do not create a specified file if it does not exist. Do not write any diagnostic messages concerning this condition.
-m -> Change the modification time of file. Do not change the access time unless -a is also specified.
-r ref_file -> Use the corresponding times of the file named by ref_file instead of the current time.
-t time ->
Use the specified time instead of the current time. time will be a decimal number of the form:
[[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm [.SS]
MM - The month of the year [01-12].
DD - The day of the month [01-31].
hh - The hour of the day [00-23].
mm - The minute of the hour [00-59].
CC - The first two digits of the year.
YY - The second two digits of the year.
SS - The second of the minute [00-61].
-f ref_file -> Use the corresponding times of the file named by ref_file instead of the current time.
file -> A path name of a file whose times are to be modified.
