.help touch Jan04 system
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NAME
touch -- change file access and modification times
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USAGE
touch files
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PARAMETERS
.ls files
List of files to be created or touched.
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.ls create = yes
If enabled, the file will be created as a zero-length text file if it doesn't
already exist.
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.ls atime = yes
Change the access time of the file.  Will not change the modification time
unless \fImtime\fR is also set.
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.ls mtime = yes
Change the modification time of the file.  Will not change the access time
unless \fIatime\fR is also set.
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.ls time = ""
Time and date to set for the file.  The format of this string may be any
of DD/MM/YY or CCYY-MM-DD (in which case time is assumed to be midnight of
that day), or CCYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS[.SSS...] to specify both date and time.
If not specified, the current system time is used unless the \fIref_file\fR
parameter is set.  If specified, \fIref_file\fR will be ignored.
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.ls ref_file = ""
Use the corresponding times of the specified file for modifying the
times of the \fIinput_files\fR.  If not specified, the current time is
used unless the \fItime\fR parameter is set.
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.ls verbose = no
Print verbose output of the files and times being reset.
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DESCRIPTION
The \fItouch\fR task sets the access and modification times of each file
in the \fIfiles\fR list.  The file will be created if it does not already
exist when the \fIcreate\fR parameter is set.  The time used can be
specified by \fItime\fR parameter or by the corresponding fields of the
file specified by \fIref_file\fR, otherwise the current system time will
be used.  The task will update both the modification and access times of
the file unless disabled by the \fIatime\fR or \fImtime\fR parameter.

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EXAMPLES

1.  Update the times of all SPP source files in the current directory:

	cl> touch *.x

2.  Create an empty file on a remode node:

	cl> touch ursa!/data/trigger_file

3.  Reset the file modification time to 2:33:45 pm on June 5, 2003:

	cl> touch nite1.fits time="2003-06-05T14:23:45"

4.  Reset the file modification time to match dev$hosts:

	cl> touch nite1.fits ref_file=dev$hosts

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SEE ALSO
.endhelp
