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stat function in BASH...

Hello,

I have a bit of a problem with this command in bash:
DATE=$(date -d "+$(stat $file | grep Modify | cut -c 9-)" +%Y%m%d)

this should normally give me the last modification date of the "$file", and it works when I use it normally, but when the $file is in a "linked" ( ln -s ) directory, he says that he cannot stat the file... (gives an error on stat).

Is there a workaround for this? so that I can stat the files in the "linked" directory?

Many thanks in advance,

PF

Install the "realpath" utility and call it on your file in your script.
IIRC it's more or less Debian-specific. So if you use Debian:

apt-get install realpath

If not, get the sources from the debian site or compile your own quick & dirty one from this source:

Code:

#include <limits.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

#include <stdio.h>



int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

      char rpath[PATH_MAX];

      if (argc != 2) {

          printf("\n%s <path>\n", argv[0]);

          exit(1);

      }

      if (realpath(argv[1], rpath) == NULL) {

          fprintf(stderr, "Error resolving path.\n\n");

          exit(2);

      }

      printf("%s\n", rpath);

      return 0;

}