unix - is there a way to use the equivalent of touch in powershell to update time stamps of a file?

Question

I use the unix command 'touch' a lot to update time-stamps of any new acquired/downloaded file in my system. Many a times the time-stamp of the existing file is old so it can get lost in the system. Is there a way in MS-Windows powershell to do so. I have both powershell 5 as well as powershell 6.

Answer 1

You can use

$file = Get-Item C:IntelLogsIntelCpHDCPSvc.log
$file.LastWriteTime = (Get-Date)

Or CreationTime or LastAcccessTime, if you prefer.

As a function

Function UpdateFileLastWriteTimeToToday() { 
        Param ($FileName)
    $file = Get-Item $FileName
    Echo "Current last write time: " $file.LastWriteTime
    $file.LastWriteTime = (Get-Date)
    Echo "New last write time: " $file.LastWriteTime
}

#How to use

UpdateFileLastWriteTimeToToday -FileName C:IntelLogsIntelGFX.Log

With the output of

Current last write time: 
Tuesday, April 16, 2019 1:09:49 PM

New last write time: 
Monday, November 4, 2019 9:59:55 AM