F.3 Set File Time

This mode is requested by the ‘--set-time’ (‘-t’) command line option. In this mode genfile operates similarly to the touch command: for each file listed in the command line, it sets its access and modification times to the current timestamp or to the value given with the ‘--date’ option. The ‘--date’ option takes a date specification in an almost arbitrary format as its argument (see section Date input formats), e.g.:

genfile --set-time --date='2 days ago' a b c

By default, genfile follows symbolic links and sets times of the file they point to. This can be changed by supplying the ‘--no-dereference’ (‘-h’) option: if it is given, genfile will change access and modification times of the symbolic link itself. Notice, that not all operating systems allow this.

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