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Douglashh · Jan 13, 2009, 02:11 PM

Anyone know of an application, preferrable free, that I can use to change the File Creation Date or Date Modified.

Thanks

ghporter · Jan 13, 2009, 05:21 PM

You should be able to do that using iPhoto. Open iPhoto, navigate to the file you want to change, then choose "Batch Change". One of the options to change is the date.

Douglashh · Jan 14, 2009, 12:02 AM

I want to change the creation date of text files not photos.

besson3c · Jan 14, 2009, 01:00 AM

touch /path/to/file

AKcrab · Jan 14, 2009, 02:16 AM

Originally Posted by besson3c

touch /path/to/file

Doesn't that just change it to "now"?

TETENAL · Jan 14, 2009, 02:27 AM

To "now" and only the modification date.

You can use File Buddy to change creation and/or modification dates. It's not free though.

ghporter · Jan 14, 2009, 06:31 AM

Originally Posted by Douglashh

I want to change the creation date of text files not photos.

I think iPhoto will adjust dates on any file you can navigate to, but I haven't tested it myself.

besson3c · Jan 14, 2009, 07:44 AM

touch -t 200011181430 /path/to/file

sets timestamp to 11/18/2000 14:30

Art Vandelay · Jan 14, 2009, 11:37 AM

That just changes the modification date, not the creation date as desired by the OP.

besson3c · Jan 14, 2009, 11:39 AM

He said he wanted something to alter the modification date *or* creation date.

Art Vandelay · Jan 14, 2009, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I think iPhoto will adjust dates on any file you can navigate to, but I haven't tested it myself.

You can only use it with items in the iPhoto library. You can't add text files to iPhoto's library.

Art Vandelay · Jan 14, 2009, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by besson3c

He said he wanted something to alter the modification date *or* creation date.

Ok, in his first post yes. In his second post, he wants to change the creation date.

ghporter · Jan 14, 2009, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

You can only use it with items in the iPhoto library. You can't add text files to iPhoto's library.

I'd come across a site that said they'd changed a number of different files' information through iPhoto. I guess they were only talking about stuff that would work in the library... I didn't have time to try it or I wouldn't have posted what I did.

And it's HARD to find information about the "touch" command without getting tons of "iPod Touch" hits and nothing on that simple command.

besson3c · Jan 14, 2009, 04:10 PM

ghporter: I suggest "man touch"... Hehe.. man touch... that sounds dirty!

AKcrab · Jan 14, 2009, 09:56 PM

I like bwana: http://www.bruji.com/bwana/
I despise trying to read man pages in the terminal.

besson3c · Jan 14, 2009, 10:28 PM

AKcrab: bwana looks cool, but it sure is taking a long time for it to create its index. How does it know when there are new binaries in my path? Does it have to do this reindex every time?

besson3c · Jan 14, 2009, 10:34 PM

Also, has anybody gotten bwana working in Firefox?

AKcrab · Jan 14, 2009, 10:44 PM

I've never seen mine index... Where are you seeing that?
edit: I know you're a terminal nut, and spend most of your day doing... stuff.. I think bwana might be designed more for someone like me that only occasionally goes into the terminal.

besson3c · Jan 14, 2009, 10:49 PM

When you type man: the first time, it needs to index apparently. There is also an index button available when you launch the app.

besson3c · Jan 14, 2009, 10:50 PM

never mind, I got bwana working in Firefox, I guess it wasn't finished its indexing yet or something...

AKcrab · Jan 14, 2009, 10:51 PM

edit: Disregard.

I see the index button now. I've never clicked it.

If I set my default browser to firefox, it opens man pages fine.
If I use it in firefox with my default browser set to safari, it opens in safari.

Not working like that for you?

besson3c · Jan 14, 2009, 11:03 PM

It is now, I'm not really sure what my problem was, to be honest.

CharlesS · Jan 14, 2009, 11:55 PM

If you want to change the creation date, you're going to be better off looking for an application to do it than to find a solution using the Terminal, since the creation date is a Mac OS-specific concept that the POSIX command-line tools aren't going to know about.

XRay is one such app, but there are probably a lot of different ones out there by now if you do a search on MacUpdate.

ghporter · Jan 15, 2009, 06:29 AM

I had skipped looking for a man page because I wanted to see what the field was doing beyond the touch command-or more specifically what the touch command had evolved into since I finished school over 13 years ago. So I did indeed go "the long way around" and wind up lost.

zro · Jan 15, 2009, 07:32 AM

Twotade
Search - VersionTracker

Haven't used them, just search results.

besson3c · Jan 15, 2009, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I had skipped looking for a man page because I wanted to see what the field was doing beyond the touch command-or more specifically what the touch command had evolved into since I finished school over 13 years ago. So I did indeed go "the long way around" and wind up lost.

So, you were out of touch with touch?

I crack myself up!