Can you move a file or directory and still retain mtime?

ddenton · 11-21-2008, 09:12 AM

There's no switch in the man for mv, but I was wondering if anyone knew a novel way to retain the mtime without resorting to using cp -p?

Thanks...

Tinkster · 11-21-2008, 09:41 AM

Not w/o getting inventive, i.e, there's no switches that
allow mv to do that, but you could script a solution, grabbing
stat output for a file, mv it, and then touch the target with
the timestamp(s). Might be more hassle than cp.

Tuttle · 11-21-2008, 09:42 AM

Make a file:

Code:

vim /usr/local/bin/mmmv

that contains this:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
cp -p $1 $2
rm $1
exit

do:

Code:

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mmmv

and use mmmv instead!

ddenton · 11-21-2008, 04:54 PM

Thanks Tuttle, that seems to have worked swimmingly. Also thanks to Tinkster for the reply!