touch a directory in python (Linux) [duplicate]

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.

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-24 15:54:37Z

8

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, 2016 at 15:54

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2 Comments

Works for py3 but py2, have to specify the atime mtime tuple

Actually, for py2, while you do need a 2nd argument, it can be simply None to get the current date and time.

radtek · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-13 01:33:04Z

3

You can do that with os.utime:

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

radtek

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answered May 24, 2016 at 15:55

myaut

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No need to cast now time.time() to int

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).