Copy a file and keep the same timestamp of the original file

I need to a copy file and after that I need to change the timestamp attributes as the original file. How can I do it with the terminal or any other way?

2

2 Answers

You can preserve the timestamp of the original file when copying using cp by adding the -p or --preserve option:

 -p same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps --preserve[=ATTR_LIST] preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,time‐ stamps), if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all

So to preserve only the timestamp

cp --preserve=timestamps oldfile newfile

or to preserve mode and ownership as well

cp --preserve oldfile newfile

or

cp -p oldfile newfile

Additional options are available for recursive copying - a common one is cp -a (cp --archive) which additionally preserves symbolic links.

3

If you want to preserve the original timestamps, use

$ touch -r <original_file> <new_file>

This copies the timestamps from another file.

See this blog post for more: Fake File Access, Modify and Change TimeStamps

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