touch command question

tungaw2001 · 01-25-2010, 10:22 PM

Hi All,

Although i'm pretty sure of the output of "touch" command, i want to confirm as it is a PROD env.

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 21 Dec 31 1969 dir -> /appl/firstdir/seconddir

If i want to change the timestamp of the link above, what will be the problem? NOTE: i'm not using root account.

$touch dir

GrapefruiTgirl · 01-25-2010, 10:28 PM

touching the dir or the symlink will result in the same thing: the timestamp will be updated to the current time (though the man page does allow for giving a different timestamp too, but usual usage is just `touch file`)

EDIT: touching the DIR does not update the timestamp of the symlink (I just tested it).
Sasha