NAME

File::Touch - update file access and modification times, optionally creating files if needed

SYNOPSIS

 use File::Touch 0.12;
 @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

This module provides both a functional and OO interface for changing the file access and modification times on files. It can optionally create the file for you, if it doesn't exist.

Note: you should specify a minimum version of 0.12, as per the SYNOPSIS, as that fixed an issue that affected systems that have sub-second granularity on those file times.

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. The timestamps are read from the reference file when the object is created, not when "<-"touch>> is invoked. Default is undefined.
time => $time: If defined, then this value will be used for both access time and modification time, whichever of those are set. This time is overridden by the "atime" and "mtime" arguments, if you use them.
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\n";

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\n";

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\n";

Make a change to a file, keeping its timestamps unchanged

 use File::Touch;
 my $date_restorer = File::Touch->new(reference => $file);
 # Update the contents of $file here.
 $date_restorer->touch($file);

REPOSITORY

<https://github.com/neilb/File-Touch>

AUTHOR

Nigel Wetters Gourlay (nwetters@cpan.org)