tmpfile
In unix on the command-line, you can touch files you don't own - but like other comments on this page state - PHP's built in touch won't work.
I simple alternative (on unix):
<?php
function touch_it_good($filename)
{
exec("touch {$filename}");
}
?>
touch
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
touch — Sets access and modification time of file
Description
bool touch
( string
$filename
[, int $time = time()
[, int $atime
]] )
Attempts to set the access and modification times of the file named in the
filename parameter to the value given in
time.
Note that the access time is always modified, regardless of the number
of parameters.
If the file does not exist, it will be created.
Parameters
-
filename -
The name of the file being touched.
-
time -
The touch time. If
timeis not supplied, the current system time is used. -
atime -
If present, the access time of the given filename is set to the value of
atime. Otherwise, it is set to the value passed to thetimeparameter. If neither are present, the current system time is used.
Return Values
Returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure.
Changelog
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 5.3.0 | It became possible to change the modification time of a directory under Windows. |
Examples
Example #1 touch() example
<?php
if (touch($filename)) {
echo $filename . ' modification time has been changed to present time';
} else {
echo 'Sorry, could not change modification time of ' . $filename;
}
?>
Example #2 touch() using the time parameter
<?php
// This is the touch time, we'll set it to one hour in the past.
$time = time() - 3600;
// Touch the file
if (!touch('some_file.txt', $time)) {
echo 'Whoops, something went wrong...';
} else {
echo 'Touched file with success';
}
?>
Notes
Note:
Note that time resolution may differ from one file system to another.
Warning
Prior to PHP 5.3.0 it was not possible to change the modification time of a directory with this function under Windows.
add a note
User Contributed Notes
touch - [22 notes]
Glen ¶
5 years ago
spam at webmastersguide dot com ¶
7 years ago
If you're going to go around deleting (unlinking) files
that you don't own just in order to change the modification
time on the file, you darn well better chown() the file
back to it's original ownership after you are done and
chmod() it back to it's correct permissions. Otherwise
you will almost certainly break things. Additionally the
code listed for touch()ing a file you don't own should
set the file creation time back to it's original time if
what is wanted is to just change the modification time.
Also, the code listed will break things if there is an i/o
error such as disk full or too many files in the directory.
Here's how the code SHOULD be written:
Create the new file FIRST, rather than last, with a different
name such as $file.tmp.
Read the ownership, permissions, and creation time of the old file.
Set permissions and creation time of the new file the same as the old.
Rename the new file to the name of the old.
chown() the new file to the user that owned the file it's replacing.
Please be careful adding to the documentation if you've
never taken programming 101.
mrgrier at yahoo dot com ¶
4 years ago
At least on Linux, touch will not change the time on a symlink itself, but on the file/directory it points to. The only way to work around this is to unlink the symlink, then recreate it.
It took a bit of searching to discover this. The OS itself provides no way to do it. Many people wondered why anyone would want to do this. I use symlinks inside a web tree to point to files outside the web tree. After a certain length of time has passed, I want the symlinks to die, so the files cannot be successfully hotlinked.
Jeff ¶
4 years ago
I've been trying to set a filemtime into the future with touch() on PHP5.
It seems touch $time has a future limit around 1000000 seconds (11 days or so). Beyond this point it reverts to a previous $time.
It doesn't make much sense but I could save you hours of time.
$time = time()+1500000;
touch($cachedfile,$time);
ilrazziatore85 AT yahoo DOT it ¶
5 years ago
Feathern wrote a little script for fetching files from a directory after a certain date.
However the if statement (line 8) should be:
if(($test[2] > 2002) || (($test[2] = 2002) && ($test[0] > 6)) || (($test[2] = 2002) && ($test[0] = 6) && ($test[1] > 17))){
echo $filelist[$i]."\r\n";
}
Otherwise the script won't fetch lots of files it should.
(In the example given, it should fetch all the files created after 06/17/2002, but the original script would miss files created 03/18/2003 or 11/01/2004)
Charles Belov ¶
6 years ago
Update the access time without updating the modified time:
Unix command: touch -a filename
PHP: touch(filename, date('U', filemtime(filename)), time())
guy at forster design dot com ¶
7 years ago
Here's a little workaround that allows the PHP user to touch a file it doesn't own:
<?php
$target_file = "/path/to/file/filename.txt"; //system filepath to your file
$file_content = implode("",file($target_file));
@unlink($target_file);
if($savetofile = fopen($target_file, "w")) {
fputs($savetofile, $file_content);
fclose($savetofile);
}
$new_date = strtotime("23 April 2005"); // set the required date timestamp here
touch($target_file,$new_date);
?>
Of course, PHP needs to have write access to the folder containing the file you want to touch, but that should be easy to arrange.
feathern at yahoo dot com ¶
10 years ago
Neat little script that will give you a list of all modified files in a certain folder after a certain date:
$filelist = Array();
$filelist = list_dir("d:\\my_folder");
for($i=0;$i<count($filelist);$i++){
$test = Array();
$test = explode("/",date("m/d/Y",filemtime($filelist[$i])));
//example of files that are later then
//06/17/2002
if(($test[2] > 2001) && ($test[1] > 16) && ($test[0] > 5)){
echo $filelist[$i]."\r\n";
}
clearstatcache();
}
function list_dir($dn){
if($dn[strlen($dn)-1] != '\\') $dn.='\\';
static $ra = array();
$handle = opendir($dn);
while($fn = readdir($handle)){
if($fn == '.' || $fn == '..') continue;
if(is_dir($dn.$fn)) list_dir($dn.$fn.'\\');
else $ra[] = $dn.$fn;
}
closedir($handle);
return $ra;
}
emilebosch at hotmail dot com ¶
11 years ago
To spare you ppl couple of hours of valuable time, you can only TOUCH a file that you own! Usually PHP is *nobody*
Warm regards,
Emile Bosch
master at dreamphp dot com ¶
11 years ago
$filename = "test.dat";
if (!file_exists($filename)) {
touch($filename); // Create blank file
chmod($filename,0666);
}
bosslog at gmail dot com ¶
2 years ago
I has passed a small test to check which function is faster to create a new file.
file_put_contents vs touch
<?php
for($i = 0; $i < 100; $i++)
{
file_put_contents('dir/file'.$i, '');
}
?>
Average time: 0,1145s
<?php
for($i = 0; $i < 100; $i++)
{
touch('dir/file'.$i);
}
?>
Average time: 0,2322s
So, file_put_contents is faster than touch, about two times.
info at archiwumrocka dot art dot pl ¶
4 years ago
Only way to change modification date in catalogue is to create file in via touch() and dalete it with unlink():
<?php
$dir = 'temp';
$files1 = scandir($dir);
$files1 = array_slice($files1, 2);
foreach ($files1 as $key => $val)
{
if (!is_dir($val)) continue;
if (!touch($val))
{
touch($val . "/plik.txt");
unlink($val . "/plik.txt");
}
}
?>
ddalex at gmail dot com ¶
4 years ago
Actually, Glen is right, PHP won't touch if it is not the current owner of the file, even if the directory and files are writeable by the PHP user.
ernst at cron-it dot de ¶
3 years ago
To touch a file without being owner, it is much easier:
<?php
function touchFile($file) {
fclose(fopen($file, 'a'));
}
?>
Radon8472 ¶
4 years ago
Important info:
touch() used on a directory always returns FALSE and prints "Permission denied" on NTFS and FAT Filesystem (tested on winXP).
seocab at rit dot edu ¶
6 years ago
The script for modifying the access time without modifying the modified time is overly complicated:
<? touch($filename, date('U', filemtime($filename)), time()); ?>
Since filemtime returns a UNIX timestamp, there is no need to call date('U') so the script could be simplified to:
<? touch($filename,filemtime($filename),time()); ?>
chris dot dallaire at csquaredsystems dot com ¶
3 years ago
I needed to use this to touch the /etc/cron.d directory when I updated some files in there. I know the docs say this isn't necessary, but I'm finding that i need to do it in order form my changes to be picked up quickly.
I ran into the permissions error as well and I found that using chmod 777 /etc/cron.d does the trick.
So, you should be able to use the PHP touch function on a directory that has open write access.
Of course, this isn't the most secure approach, but in our application it's not a big deal for that folder to not be super secure.
dotpointer at gmail dot com ¶
3 years ago
Regarding the permission error, also discussed in other notes:
Warning: touch() [function.touch]: Utime failed: Operation not permitted in /directory/file.php on line X
On my system PHP can touch files it does not own as long as the file has at least chmod xx6, BUT it can not set modification time.
This works:
touch('notmyfile');
# -rw-rw-rw- 1 root root 0 2010-02-15 23:39 notmyfile
This gives error above:
touch('notmyfile', time());
# -rw-rw-rw- 1 root root 0 2010-02-15 23:39 notmyfile
This works:
touch('notmyfile', time());
# -rw-rw-rw- 1 apache root 0 2010-02-15 23:41 notmyfile
Note that user is APACHE and not NOBODY.
On some systems with apache web server, PHP runs as apache.
To check what user your PHP run as, you may try this to find out:
echo shell_exec('whoami');
rf_public at yahoo dot co dot uk ¶
7 years ago
Note: the script to touch a file you don't own will change it's owner so ensure permissions are correct or you could lose access to it
Bess E. R. Wisser ¶
4 years ago
"Glen: In unix on the command-line, you can touch files you don't own - but like other comments on this page state - PHP's built in touch won't work."
No, you can not modify files you don't have write access to in a multi-user environment, ever, under any circumstances. The reason why you fail to do this "in PHP" is because your httpd is most likely running as a "shared" setup, running as nobody/nobody, and your user's files aren't world-writable, and they are not owned by nobody/nobody. Change your required files to be world-writable and you can touch() them, and more.
contacto at lucasfonzalida.com.ar ¶
4 years ago
This example resolve some drawbacks with DayLight Saving Flag and TimeZone in Windows with native function 'touch()'
See function comments for details
Usage:
------
<?php
// mtime of source File
$time = filemtime("/source.txt");
// Sync mtime at destination file with source file
betouch("/destination.txt",$time);
/**
* Function: Best Effort Touch
* Update recursively mtime at especified file and verify.
*
* This function, resolve 2 drawbacks with native function 'touch()' on Windows:
* - touch() Return incorrect result (PHP v5.2.5)
* - touch() Is affected by DayLight Saving Flag and TimeZone
*
* @access public
* @param String $file Full path to target file
* @param int $time Unix Timestamp
* @param int $offset Offset (Default: 0)
* @return boolean
*/
function betouch($file, $time, $offset = 0){
// Add offset to requested mtime
$new_mtime = $time + $offset;
// Calling native touch
$result = touch($file, $new_mtime, $new_mtime);
// If 'touch()' return OK
if($result){
// Clears file status cache
clearstatcache();
// Get recently stored mtime at destination file
$stored_mtime = filemtime($file);
// Verify if stored is equal to requested mtime
if($stored_mtime == $time){
return true;
}else{
// Calculate offset between stored mtime and requested mtime
$offset = $time - $stored_mtime;
// Recall recursively with new offset and return
return betouch($file, $time, $offset);
}
}
// Native touch() fail
return false;
}
?>
Lucas Fonzalida
Buenos Aires - Argentina
contacto at lucasfonzalida.com.ar