Frequent question: How do you modify a file without changing the timestamp in Unix?

If you want change the contents of files without changing its timestamps, there is no direct way to do it. But it is possible! We can use one of the touch command’s option -r (reference) to preserve file timestamps after editing or modifying it.

How can I edit a file without changing the timestamp?

The option -r (or –reference) uses file’s time instead of current time. You can use stat to check the timestamps of both files. Now edit the main file and make desired changes. Then use the touch command to touch the main file with timestamp of tmp file.

How do you modify the timestamp of a file in Unix?

5 Linux Touch Command Examples (How to Change File Timestamp)

  1. Create an Empty File using touch. …
  2. Change File’s Access Time using -a. …
  3. Change File’s Modification Time using -m. …
  4. Explicitly Setting Access and Modification time using -t and -d. …
  5. Copy the Time-stamp from Another File using -r.

Can we change the modified date of a file in Unix?

3 Answers. You can use the touch command along with the -r switch to apply another file’s attributes to a file. NOTE: There is no such thing as creation date in Unix, there are only access, modify, and change.

How do I move a file without changing the date modified in Linux?

How to Copy File without Changing Last Modified Date, Time stamp and ownership in Linux / Unix? cp command provides an option –p for copying the file without changing the mode, ownership and timestamps.

How copy file without changing date in Linux?

Answer

  1. In Linux. The -p does the trick in Linux. -p is the same as –preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps . …
  2. In FreeBSD. The -p also do the trick in FreeBSD. …
  3. In Mac OS. The -p also do the trick in Mac OS.

How do you find the timestamp of a file?

ctime is for Last file status change timestamp. Following examples show the difference among the atime, mtime and ctime, these examples are in GNU/Linux BASH. You can use stat -x in Mac OS X or other BSD Dist. to see the similar output format. When the file just be created, three timestamps are the same.

How do I change the modified time of a file?

Right-click the current time and select the option to “Adjust Date/Time.” Choose the option to “Change Date and Time…” and input the new information in the time and date fields. Press “OK” to save your changes and then open the file you want to change.

Which command can I use to modify the timestamp of a file?

The touch command is a standard command used in UNIX/Linux operating system which is used to create, change and modify timestamps of a file.

How do I backup a file in Unix?

Linux cp –backup

If the file you want to copy already exists in the destination directory, you can backup your existing file with the use of this command. Syntax: cp –backup <filename> <destinationDirectory>

How regex is handled in Unix?

A regular expression is a pattern consisting of a sequence of characters that matched against the text. UNIX evaluates text against the pattern to determine if the text and the pattern match. If they match, the expression is true and a command is executed.

How do I find recently modified files in Linux?

2. The find Command

  1. 2.1. -mtime and -mmin. -mtime is handy, for example, if we want to find all the files from the current directory that have changed in the last 24 hours: find . – …
  2. 2.2. -newermt. There are times when we want to find the files that were modified based on a particular date.
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