CHDATE(1) CHDATE(1)
NAME
touch, chdate - set modification or access date of a file
SYNOPSIS
touch [ -c ] file ...
chdate [ -am ] date file ...
DESCRIPTION
Touch attempts to set the modification time of the files to
the current time. If a file does not exist, it will be cre-
ated unless option -c is present.
Chdate sets the access and modification times of files. The
date comprises two or more arguments: a month (3 letters or
more), a day number, an optional time in hour:min[:sec]
form, and an optional year. A missing year means a time in
the last 12 months. The options are
-a Change the access time only.
-m Change the modification time only.
Chdate knows how to carry between fields of a date. Only a
file's owner or the super-user can change its date.
EXAMPLES
chdate jul 4 12:00 1976 independence
chdate jul -3 1976 independence # backdate one week
SEE ALSO
ls(1), utime in chmod(2), stat(2), timec(3), chmod(1),
chown(8)
DIAGNOSTICS
Chdate returns the number of files on which the date could
not be changed.
BUGS
Touch will not touch directories.
The first file name for chdate cannot begin with a digit.