SetFile

SETFILE(1)                   General Commands Manual                  SETFILE(1)

NAME
     /usr/bin/SetFile – set attributes of files and directories (DEPRECATED)

SYNOPSIS
     /usr/bin/SetFile [-P] [-a attributes] [-c creator] [-d date] [-m date]
                      [-t type] file ...

DESCRIPTION
     Tools supporting Carbon development, including /usr/bin/SetFile, were
     deprecated with Xcode 6.

     /usr/bin/SetFile is a tool to set the file attributes on files in an HFS+
     directory. It attempts to be similar to the setfile command in MPW. It can
     apply rules to more than one file with the options applying to all files
     listed.

     Flags:

     -P  Acts on a symlink file instead on the file the symlink resolves to.

     -a attributes  Sets the file attributes bits where attributes is a string
                    of case sensitive letters. Each letter corresponds to a file
                    attribute: an uppercase letter indicates that the attribute
                    bit is set (1), a lowercase letter indicates that it is not
                    (0).  Note: attributes not specified remain unchanged.

                    A | a    Alias file

                    B | b    Has bundle

                    C | c    Custom icon (allowed on folders)

                    D | d    Located on the desktop (allowed on folders)

                    E | e    Extension is hidden (allowed on folders)

                    I | i    Inited - Finder is aware of this file and has given
                             it a location in a window. (allowed on folders)

                    L | l    Locked

                    M | m    Shared (can run multiple times)

                    N | n    File has no INIT resource

                    S | s    System file (name locked)

                    T | t    "Stationery Pad" file

                    V | v    Invisible (allowed on folders)

                    Z | z    Busy (allowed on folders)

     -c creator     Specifies the file's creator, where creator can be a string
                    of four MacRoman characters, an empty string ('')
                    designating a null creator, or a binary, decimal, octal, or
                    hexadecimal number in standard notation (e.g. 0x52486368).

     -d date        Sets the creation date, where date is a string of the form:
                    "mm/dd/[yy]yy [hh:mm:[:ss] [AM | PM]]" Notes: Enclose the
                    string in quotation marks if it contains spaces. The date
                    must be in the Unix epoch, that is, between 1/1/1970 and
                    1/18/2038. If the year is provided as a two-digit year, it
                    is assumed to be in the 21st century and must be from 00
                    (2000) through 38 (2038).

     -m date        Sets the modification date where date is a string of the
                    form in -d above. (mm/dd/[yy]yy [hh:mm:[:ss] [AM | PM]])

     -t type        Sets the file type, where type can be a string of four
                    MacRoman characters, an empty string ('') designating a null
                    type, or a binary, decimal, octal, or hexadecimal number in
                    standard notation (e.g. 0x55455955).

RETURN VALUES
     0        attributes set
     1        syntax error
     2        any other error

SEE ALSO
     GetFileInfo(1)

EXAMPLES
     This command line sets the modification date of "myFile":

     SetFile -m "8/4/2001 16:13" myFile

Mac OS X                         January 4, 2009                        Mac OS X