A script to generate random dates. It uses the year range 2006-2009, and truncates every month of the year to an ordinary February's 28 days, but otherwise it's pretty solid and safe.
Code:
spate=1
while [ $spate -le 120 ]
do
NUMBER=$[ ( $RANDOM % 864000 ) + 1 ]
RNUMBER=$((RANDOM%4+2006))
ERNUMB=$((RANDOM%11+1))
SHTMON=$[ ($RANDOM%27) + 1 ]
if [ ${#SHTMON} = 1 ]; then day=$(echo "0"$SHTMON); else day=$SHTMON; fi
if [ ${#ERNUMB} = 1 ]; then mon=$(echo "0"$ERNUMB); else mon=$ERNUMB; fi
if [ ${#RNUMBER} = 1 ]; then year=$(echo "0"$RNUMBER); else year=$RNUMBER; fi
b=$[NUMBER / 60]
c=$[b * 60]
seconds=$[NUMBER-c]
d=$[b / 60]
e=$[d * 60]
minutes=$[b-e]
hours=$[e/60]
#Padding single-length time entries with zeros
if [ ${#seconds} = 1 ]; then sec=$(echo "0"$seconds); else sec=$seconds; fi
if [ ${#minutes} = 1 ]; then min=$(echo "0"$minutes); else min=$minutes; fi
if [ ${#hours} = 1 ]; then hrs=$(echo "0"$hours); else hrs=$hours; fi
longtime=$(echo $hrs$min.$sec) #<< the random time in 'touch -t'-friendly format (seconds marked off by a period, not a colon).
deatt=$(echo $year$mon$day) #<< Setting date in 'touch -t' format
time=$(echo $deatt$longtime) #<<Putting the date and time together, keeping the formats (no spaces)
echo "$time">>randomtime.txt
echo "Written - random date number $spate."
spate=$[spate+1]
done
YMMV, but when I used the following script on a folder of 120 JPEG files, no two dates were the same. The times? I'm not positive they were likewise all unique, but at a glance I didn't see much repetition.
Code:
while read 'line';
do
nardo=$(echo $line)
chachi=$(echo $nardo | cut -d, -f2)
joanie=$(echo $nardo | cut -d, -f1)
richie=$(basename "$joanie")
echo "Working on file $richie now."
touch -t $chachi $joanie
done<timetemp
And to think this was going to be the topic of a question, me looking for help yet again! Four hours of Google-ing, cross-referencing online MAN and Info pages, and coming across near-to-topic and spot-on threads in forums such as LQ and Unix-Linux Forums (
www.unix.com), and such as that gave me just enough where I could turn it around and make this offering.
Again, thanks.
BZT
