touch a directory in python (Linux)

Question

Is there a way to "touch" a existing directory in Linux using python so that its modtime becomes the current system time?

From the command line this is the equivalent of touch $directory.

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered May 24 '16 at 15:54

7

os.utime() will allow you to set the atime and mtime of an existing filesystem object, defaulting to the current date and time.

os.utime(path)

answered May 24 '16 at 15:54

Works for py3 but py2, have to specify the atime mtime tuple – radtek Oct 13 '17 at 01:29
Actually, for py2, while you do need a 2nd argument, it can be simply `None` to get the current date and time. – nturner Dec 13 '19 at 18:18

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 13 '17 at 01:33

3

You can do that with os.utime:

now = time.time()
os.utime('/tmp/marker', (now, now))

edited Oct 13 '17 at 01:33

radtek

answered May 24 '16 at 15:55

myaut

No need to cast now time.time() to int – radtek Oct 13 '17 at 01:32
No need to use `time.time()` at all -- as of Python 2.0, you can get the same effect with simply `os.utime('/tmp/marker', None)`. – nturner Dec 13 '19 at 18:20

2 Answers2