Moving directory without modifying timestamp

Question

I would like to move a directory from one location to another but when I do I can see that the timestamp gets changed. Is there any way to retain the timestamp as original?

Have looked at the man page of mv but couldn't find any existing options.

Answer 1

Use cp as following, mv doesn't do.

cp -r -p /path/to/sourceDirectory /path/to/destination/

from man cp:

-p
    same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps
--preserve[=ATTR_LIST]
    preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps), if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all

then after copy done, delete the sourceDirectory.

Answer 2

On linux, this works:

timestamp=$(stat -c %y foldername)
mv foldername new_foldername
touch -d "$timestamp" new_foldername

The stat -c %y command returns the modification date of the folder, in readable form. That value is retained and used with the command touch -d "$timestamp" to set the time of the new folder.