FUPDT

Syntax

FUPDT [(#channel)] or

FUPDT (\file) (Toolkit II only)

Location

Toolkit II, BTool

This function returns the date on which a given file was last amended. The value returned is the date in QDOS format, ie. the number of seconds since Midnight 1st January 1961. You can check this initial date with:

PRINT DATE$(0)

The update time is altered whenever a file is created or amended. A file which has overwritten a previous file or is a copy is regarded as a new file and will therefore have a different update time to the original. The default data device and sub-directories are supported, default channel is #3.

Example

It could be interesting to list all files which have been created during a certain time period. A simple prototype of a program which will do just that follows on below.

If you want to check all files, then dev$ should contain no sub-directories or wild cards (just FLP2_, WIN1_) and wild$ an empty string. Such a program could be used to write an intelligent backup program.

In order to run the program you will need TinyToolkit’s TCONNECT or DIY-TK’s QLINK. You could also use similar commands in the toolkits provided with Turbo or Qliberator.

100 CLS: INPUT "Device:"!dev$ \"Wild card:"!wild$
110 INPUT "List from (dd mm yy):"!first$
120 INPUT TO 2;"to (<ENTER>=today):"!last$\
130 day1=first$(1 TO 2):month1=first$(4 TO 5)
135 year1=19&first$(7 TO 8)
140 IF LEN(last$) THEN
150   day2=last$(1 TO 2):month2=last$(4 TO 5)
155   year2=19&last$(7 TO 8)
160 ELSE last=DATE
170 END IF
180 DATE_tmp=DATE
190 SDATE year1,month1,day1,0,0,0: first=DATE
200 IF LEN(last$): SDATE year2,month2,day2,23,59,58: last=DATE
210 ADATE DATE_tmp-DATE+2
220 :
230 OPEN#3,pipe_10000: OPEN#4,pipe_100
240 TCONNECT #3 TO #4: WDIR#3,dev$ & wild$
250 yes=0: yesno=0
260 REPeat show_those
270   IF NOT PEND(#4) THEN EXIT show_those
280   INPUT#4,file$: this=FUPDT(\dev$ & file$): yesno=yesno+1
290   IF first<=this AND this<=last THEN
300     PRINT file$;TO 20;"(";DATE$(this);")"
310     yes=yes+1
320   END IF
330 END REPeat show_those
340 PRINT \"(";yes;"/";yesno!"files)"
350 CLOSE#3,#4

Minerva or SMS users can delete lines 180,190,200 and 210 and use the following lines instead:

190 first=DATE(year1,month1,day1,0,0,0)
200 IF LEN(last$): last=DATE(year2,month2,day2,23,59,58)

NOTE 1

The update time of a file will only be correct if the system clock was set to the correct time when the file was last written to, since it is the date contained within the QL’s clock which is written to the header of the file. If your machine has a battery backed real-time clock, then this presents no real problem; otherwise you will need to ensure that you set the date and time after each startup.

NOTE 2

On some early versions of Toolkit II the machine code FS.RENAME routine also alters the update time of a file!

NOTE 3

There is no legitimate way to change the update time of a file except with level-2 or level-3 drivers. It is of course possible to set the system clock temporarily to the desired time, amend the file and then set the clock back, but as the time taken to change the cannot be estimated exactly, this method will almost surely reset the system clock to the incorrect time after carrying out such an operation a few times. On level-2 and level-3 drivers, SET_FUPDT can be used.

NOTE 4

Minerva automatically updates the update dates of files on microdrives. Other ROM versions will not do so without Toolkit II.

CROSS-REFERENCE

FBKDT, FLEN, FTYP, FDAT, FXTRA, FILE_LEN, FILE_TYPE, FVERS and FNAME$ return other information about a file. See DATE and ADATE about handling the system clock and SET_FUPDT on setting the time stamp of a file.