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Top Forums UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers Unsure why access time on a directory change isn't changing Post 303037890 by hicksd8 on Thursday 15th of August 2019 05:12:14 PM
Old 08-15-2019
You didn't say which operating system this is but there has to be difference between read and open. If you think about it, if a read updated the access time then all the access times would change when a backup is run which wouldn't be any good if you had to restore the whole lot. However, if an application opens a file then that will update the access time. For example, if you open a file with vi and then immediately quit with :q!, the access time should update because the file has been specifically opened. Additionally, if youvi followed by :w! (even if you haven't changed anything) the file will be written back so the modified date should change.

Now with a directory it is holding the details of its files so if a new file is created the directory is modified. Also, if an application specifically opens a file with that directory in its pathname (and blocks may need to be allocated/deallocated to the file), then the access time should change.

You should be able to verify this on your operating system with a few tests.

Last edited by hicksd8; 08-16-2019 at 05:20 AM..
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Touch(3pm)						User Contributed Perl Documentation						Touch(3pm)

NAME
File::Touch - update access and modification timestamps, creating nonexistent files where necessary. SYNOPSIS
use File::Touch; @file_list = ('one.txt','../two.doc'); $count = touch(@file_list); use File::Touch; $reference_file = '/etc/passwd'; $touch_obj = File::Touch->new( reference => $reference_file, no_create => 1 ); @file_list = ('one.txt','../two.doc'); $count = $touch_obj->touch(@file_list); DESCRIPTION
Here's a list of arguments that can be used with the object-oriented contruction: atime_only => [0|1] If nonzero, change only the access time of files. Default is zero. mtime_only => [0|1] If nonzero, change only the modification time of files. Default is zero. no_create => [0|1] If nonzero, do not create new files. Default is zero. reference => $reference_file If defined, use timestamps from this file instead of current time. Default is undefined. atime => $time If defined, use this time (in epoch seconds) instead of current time for access time. mtime => $time If defined, use this time (in epoch seconds) instead of current time for modification time. Examples Update access and modification times, creating nonexistent files use File::Touch; my @files = ('one','two','three'); my $count = touch(@files); print "$count files updated "; Set access time forward, leave modification time unchanged use File::Touch; my @files = ('one','two','three'); my $day = 24*60*60; my $time = time() + 30 * $day; my $ref = File::Touch->new( atime_only => 1, time => $time ); my $count = $ref->touch(@files); print "$count files updated "; Set modification time back, update access time, do not create nonexistent files use File::Touch; my @files = ('one','two','three'); my $day = 24*60*60; my $time = time() - 30 * $day; my $ref = File::Touch->new( mtime => $time, no_create => 1 ); my $count = $ref->touch(@files); print "$count files updated "; AUTHOR
Nigel Wetters Gourlay (nwetters@cpan.org) COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2001,2007,2009 Nigel Wetters Gourlay. All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself. perl v5.10.0 2009-07-25 Touch(3pm)
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