Touch Task

Sets the access and modification times of files.

Parameters

The following table describes the parameters of the Touch task.

Parameter Description

AlwaysCreate

Optional Boolean parameter.

If true, creates any files that do not already exist.

Files

Required ITaskItem[] parameter.

Specifies the collection of files to touch.

ForceTouch

Optional Boolean parameter.

If true, forces a file touch even if the files are read-only.

Time

Optional String parameter.

Specifies a time other than the current time. The format must be a format that is acceptable to the Parse method.

TouchedFiles

Optional ITaskItem[] output parameter.

Contains the collection of items that were successfully touched.

Example

The following example uses the Touch task to change the access and modification times of the files specified in the Files item collection, and puts the list of successfully touched files in the FilesTouched item collection.

<Project xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

<ItemGroup>
    <Files Include="File1.cs;File2.cs;File3.cs" />
</ItemGroup>

    <Target Name="TouchFiles">
        <Touch
            Files="@(Files)">
            <Output
                TaskParameter="TouchedFiles"
                ItemName="FilesTouched"/>
    </Target>
</Touch>
</Project>

See Also

Concepts

MSBuild Tasks

Other Resources

MSBuild Task Reference