Q69581: Updating the Date and Time Stamps on Files

Article: Q69581
Product(s): Microsoft Disk Operating System
Version(s): MS-DOS:3.x,4.x,5.0,5.0a,6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 17-DEC-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system versions 3.1, 3.2, 3.21, 3.3, 3.3a, 4.0, 4.01, 5.0, 5.0a, 6.0, 6.2, 6.21, 6.22 
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SUMMARY
=======

The following MS-DOS command updates the date and time stamps of a file named
"EXAMPLE" without altering the contents of the file. This is similar to the
TOUCH utility found in XENIX and in some third-party MS-DOS toolkits.

  COPY /B EXAMPLE +,,

MORE INFORMATION
================

The COPY command can concatenate a file onto an existing file when used in the
form:

  COPY FILE1+FILE2

In this example, the contents of FILE2 are appended to FILE1, leaving FILE2
unchanged. When copying in this mode, the COPY command switches to ASCII mode
where the ^Z (0x01A) end-of-file marker is honored.

Therefore, with the above command, the /b forces the COPY command into binary
mode, the filename is the file to be updated, the + (plus sign) indicates that a
file is to be appended, and the ,, (commas) are placeholders for the remaining
parameters (which are not included in this example). Because the file to be
appended is not specified, the COPY command will append nothing and only update
the time and date stamps for the file.

The following batch file, TOUCH.BAT, can be used to automate the process:

  @echo off
  if %1.==. goto end
  if not exist %1 goto end
  copy /b %1 +,, > nul
  echo %1 touched!
  :end

This batch file requires one parameter, the file to be "touched." If the
parameter is not supplied, line 2 will cause the batch file to exit without
doing anything. If the specified file does not exist, line 3 will cause the
batch file to exit also.

Additional query words: 6.22 3.20 3.21 3.30 3.30a 4.00 4.01 5.00 5.00a 6.00 6.20 stamp

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbMSDOSSearch kbMSDOS321 kbMSDOS400 kbMSDOS320 kbMSDOS330a kbMSDOS621 kbMSDOS622 kbMSDOS620 kbMSDOS600 kbMSDOS310 kbMSDOS500 kbMSDOS330 kbMSDOS401 kbMSDOS500a
Version           : MS-DOS:3.x,4.x,5.0,5.0a,6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22

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