Touch files (update timestamp)

Help & Support
1

A few months ago my fileserver fell over and I had to move the disks into a new machine. I didn't really pay attention and didn't realise the internal clock was significantly wrong so all files I've modified since the move is dated in the year 2000.

Does directory opus have a command the update the modified timestamp on a file? If they were dated today it would be better than dated 7 years ago so I was going to search for all old files and touch them.

It's a linux fileserver and I'm betting there is an easy way to do it from the command line, but I don't know linux that well and thought it would be just as easy if I could do it from DO.

2

Nevermind, I spotted the "Set Attributes" button :slight_smile:

3

Rather than use the SetAttr button it would be easier in this case to setup a new button with the following function:

SetAttr MODIFIED=now

This will set the modified date to now for all selected files without having to navigate any dialogs.

4

This is an old thread, but for those of us, like me, who searched for this, as of version 12.6 it's now under Properties (toolbar drop list)|Touch Modified Date.

5

You can also timeshift using the metadata panel (e.g. add 10 years to the existing timestamp) rather than just set everything to the current time.

6

I've worked out how to add this to the context menu for all files and folders (via Settings -> File Types) - but I am wondering how to modify this command to be recursive - i.e. to get it to 'touch' all files/folders under the currently selected folder. Is this possible?

7

To answer my own question, it looks like

SetAttr MODIFIED=now RECURSE

Makes it recursive.

8

I don't always want the timestamp change to be recursive, so I use

@keydown:none
SetAttr MODIFIED=now
@keydown:any
SetAttr MODIFIED=now RECURSE
9

That's a good idea. So I guess @keydown:any means ctrl/alt/shift etc would all make it recurse, huh?

10

Exactly. I used any, because I find I might already be holding ctrl or shift depending on how I selected the files in the first place.

11

Right, I am doing the same now, except since I usually do want it to recurse, I've made it so the modifier stops the recursion...

Thanks for the tip!

12

I use @keydown on several buttons; very flexible!

From the manual:

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