Using filename as parameter on powershell function/script

Question

good afternoon

Recently I've been trying to adapt this powershell script (from "Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog") to modify the file timestamps (CreationTime, LastAccessTime, and LastWriteTime) of a single file instead of the files of a folder. But, I've been having problems on make it work with modifications that I've made.

The original script is as follows:

Set-FileTimeStamps function

Function Set-FileTimeStamps
{
    Param (
        [Parameter(mandatory=$true)]
        [string[]]$path,
        [datetime]$date = (Get-Date))
    Get-ChildItem -Path $path |
    ForEach-Object {
        $_.CreationTime = $date
        $_.LastAccessTime = $date
        $_.LastWriteTime = $date
    }
} #end function Set-FileTimeStamps

And the modified one is this:

Function Set-FileTimeStamps
{
    Param (
        [Parameter(mandatory=$true)]
        [string]$file,
        [datetime]$date = (Get-Date))
    $file.CreationTime = $date
    $file.LastAccessTime = $date
    $file.LastWriteTime = $date
} #end function Set-FileTimeStamps

An when I try to run the script it throws me the following error:

Property 'CreationTime' cannot be found on this object; make sure it exists and is settable.
At C:\Users\Anton\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\Set-FileTimeStamps\Set-FileTimeStamps.psm1:7 char:11
+ $file. <<<< CreationTime = $date
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PropertyAssignmentException

So, it's not clear to me where I'm failing while modifying the original script, and I would be thankful if someone could point me the right direction.

Thanks in advance.

CB. · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-01 22:24:12Z

5

The type [string] does not have CreationTime, LastAccessTime and LastWriteTime properties just because is a file name... it's always a [string] type. You need to pass a [system.io.fileinfo] type as parameter of your script or cast to this type:

Function Set-FileTimeStamps
{
    Param (
        [Parameter(mandatory=$true)]
        [string]$file,
        [datetime]$date = (Get-Date))

        $file = resolve-path $file     
        ([system.io.fileinfo]$file).CreationTime = $date
        ([system.io.fileinfo]$file).LastAccessTime = $date
        ([system.io.fileinfo]$file).LastWriteTime = $date
    } #end function Set-FileTimeStamps

in the original script the cmdlet Get-ChildItem -Path $path return a [fileinfo] type that's why it works.

edited Aug 1, 2015 at 22:24

answered Aug 1, 2015 at 22:16

CB.

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