Preserve modified time stamp after edit

timestampsvim

For files within a specific folder, I would like vim to never touch "modified"
timestamp at all.

The background is that I use Bloxsom for blogging, which uses plain text
files in ~/bloxsom as source of all articles. The article date (and therefore
order of appearence) is based on modification date of the text file. I don't
want article pop up like if it's new whenever I just fix a typo. (I do lots
of them… :D)

So far, vim changes timestamp and the original stamp is lost forever. This is
OK and I want to keep it that way for most of files on the system. But I don't
want that for the blog files – I can always touch the file if I need.

Any ideas on how to tweak vim into this behavior?

Best Answer

I don't think vim has this feature. One alternative is to modify a copy and set timestamp appropriately, e.g.:

cp -p post temp
vim temp
touch -r post temp
cp -p temp post

Or even better:

touch -r post timestamp
vim post
touch -r timestamp post

Related Solutions

Shell – Suggested setup for an ultra-lightweight text-based programming environment in linux

I read through your questions several times before I realized that I definitely have a recommendation for you: vim with tmux: http://tmux.sourceforge.net/

tmux is a screen 'multiplexor' that lets you have several windows and panes 'within 1'

It is a successor to the venerable 'screen' program, long a staple of many cli coders. One of its original winning features over vim was the ability to do split windows vertically as well as horizontally. However screen has moved forward and can now do that too.

Example:

enter image description here

Another part of the setup that I would recommend is a good set of aliases. These will make your typing and interaction a lot easier and quicker

Some of my favorites are shown here as examples:

alias gcv='git commit'
alias gg='git grep ' # for searching (add parameter)
alias gst='git status -sb' # I must use this 100 times a day!!!
alias h='history | tail'
alias hg='history | grep' # for searching my history (add parameter)
alias l='ls -alFtrG'
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias mv='mv -i'
alias p='pwd'# at least 200 times a day! so 2 chrs saved * 200 = 400 less characters to type ;)

Aliases can be setup in a .bash_aliases file that is called from .bashrc with: # Alias definitions. if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then . ~/.bash_aliases fi

Chances are you already have that code, so just your own .bash_aliases file.

Both these options work on a Mac and that is an important consideration for myself (a mostly Ubuntu user).

Most folks using tmux remap the keys to make it easier. The default bindings are just not that good. Here are my settings:

$ cat ~/tmux.conf

# mdd tmux settings
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; display "Reloaded!"  # Reload with ctrl-r
set -g prefix C-a         # prefix from ctrl-b to ctrl-a
unbind C-b                # allow ctrl-b for other things
set -sg escape-time 1     # quicker responses
bind C-a send-prefix      # Pass on ctrl-a for other apps
set -g base-index 1        # Numbering of windows
setw -g pane-base-index 1  # Numbering of Panes
# bind | split-window -h    # Split panes horizontal
bind \ split-window -h    # Split panes horizontal
bind - split-window -v    # Split panes vertically
bind h select-pane -L     # Switch to Pane Left
bind j select-pane -D     # Switch to Pane Down
bind k select-pane -U     # Switch to Pane Up
bind l select-pane -R     # Switch to Pane Right
bind -r C-h select-window -t :-  # Quick Pane Selection
bind -r C-l select-window -t :+  # Quick Pane Selection
bind -r H resize-pane -L 5       # Switch to Pane Left
bind -r J resize-pane -D 5       # Switch to Pane Down
bind -r K resize-pane -U 5       # Switch to Pane Up
bind -r L resize-pane -R 5       # Switch to Pane Right
setw -g mode-mouse off           # Mouse Off
set -g mouse-select-pane off     # Mouse Off  
set -g mouse-resize-pane off     # Mouse Off
set -g mouse-select-window off   # Mouse Off
#set -g  default-terminal "screen-256color"
setw -g monitor-activity on      # Activity Alerts
set -g visual-activity on
set -g status-fg white           # Status line Colors
set -g status-bg black
setw -g window-status-fg cyan    # Window list color
setw -g window-status-bg default
setw -g window-status-attr dim
setw -g window-status-current-fg white     # Active Window Color
setw -g window-status-current-bg red
setw -g window-status-current-attr bright
set -g pane-border-fg green      # Pane colors
set -g pane-border-bg black 
set -g pane-active-border-fg white 
set -g pane-active-border-bg yellow
set -g message-fg white          # Command/Message Line.
set -g message-bg black
set -g message-attr bright
set -g status-left-length 40     # Status Line, left side
set -g status-left "#[fg=white]Session: #S #[fg=yellow]#I #[fg=cyan]#P"
set -g status-utf8 on            # Status Line, right side
set -g status-right "-------"
set -g status-interval 60        # frequency of status line updates
set -g status-justify centre     # center window list
setw -g mode-keys vi             # vi keys to move 
unbind v                         # Open panes in same directory as tmux-panes script
unbind n
bind v send-keys " ~/tmux-panes -h" C-m
bind n send-keys " ~/tmux-panes -v" C-m
unbind Up                        # Maximizing and Minimizing...
bind Up new-window -d -n tmp \; swap-pane -s tmp.1 \; select-window -t tmp
unbind Down
bind Down last-window \; swap-pane -s tmp.1 \; kill-window -t tmp
bind P pipe-pane -o "cat >>~/#W.log" \; display "Toggled logging to ~/#W.log"
# Make keys for copy mode be like vi
unbind [
bind Escape copy-mode
unbind p
bind p paste-buffer
bind -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection
bind -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection

Finally (to close the loop), here's my .vimrc settings themselves that I like having to make the shell easier to use:

" mdd specific stuff --- start
set hlsearch
set incsearch
set number
" more3 mdd stuff - set tabs to be spaces and length of 2 characters.
set smartindent
set tabstop=2
set shiftwidth=2
set expandtab
" mdd specific stuff --- end
"
" Forget being compatible with good ol' vi
set nocompatible

" Get that filetype stuff happening
filetype on
filetype plugin on
filetype indent on

" Turn on that syntax highlighting
syntax on

" Why is this not a default
set hidden

" Don't update the display while executing macros
set lazyredraw

" At least let yourself know what mode you're in
set showmode

" Enable enhanced command-line completion. Presumes you have compiled
" with +wildmenu.  See :help 'wildmenu'
set wildmenu

" Let's make it easy to edit this file (mnemonic for the key sequence is
" 'e'dit 'v'imrc)
nmap <silent> ,ev :e $MYVIMRC<cr>

" And to source this file as well (mnemonic for the key sequence is
" 's'ource 'v'imrc)
nmap <silent> ,sv :so $MYVIMRC<cr>

highlight ExtraWhitespace ctermbg=red guibg=red
match ExtraWhitespace /\s\+$/
autocmd BufWinEnter * match ExtraWhitespace /\s\+$/
autocmd InsertEnter * match ExtraWhitespace /\s\+\%#\@<!$/
autocmd InsertLeave * match ExtraWhitespace /\s\+$/
autocmd BufWinLeave * call clearmatches()

Finally I make a few changes to my .bashrc file For example with shopt -s autocd when I type a directory name (that exists) my shell cd's into that directory immediately. Nifty! So here's my .bashrc changes:

# Automatic cd'ing
shopt -s autocd

# Have cd show directory info ('cos my shell doesn't show full directory path in $PS1 prompt (intended).
cd() {
      builtin cd "$@" && pwd 
  }

# enable programmable completion features
if [ -f /etc/bash_completion ] && ! shopt -oq posix; then
    . /etc/bash_completion
fi

PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.rvm/bin # Add RVM to PATH for scripting
[[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ]] && . "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm"  # Load RVM into a shell session *as a function*

# mdd Terminal Multiplexor 6/15/2012
if [[ ! $TERM =~ screen ]]; then
    exec tmux
fi

[ -z "$TMUX" ] && export TERM=xterm-256color

export EDITOR=vim

git config --global --add color.ui true

Shell – list all files newer than given timestamp and sort them

find supports a lot of date input formats. The simplest format to obtain is YYYYMMDD HH:MM:SS. You already have the digits in the right order, all you have to do is extract the first group (${timestamp%??????}: take all but the last 6 characters; ${timestamp#????????}: take all but the first 8 characters), and keep going, appending punctuation then the next group as you go along.

timestamp=20130207003851
timestring=${timestamp%??????}; timestamp=${timestamp#????????}
timestring="$timestring ${timestamp%????}"; timestamp=${timestamp#??}
timestring="$timestring:${timestamp%??}:${timestamp#??}"

In bash (and ksh and zsh), but not in ash, you can use the more readable ${STRING_VARIABLE:OFFSET:LENGTH} construct.

timestring="${timestamp:0:8} ${timestamp:8:2}:${timestamp:10:2}:${timestamp:12:2}"

To sort files by date, print out the file names preceded by the dates and sort that, then strip the date prefix. Use -printf to control the output format. %TX prints a part of the modification time determined by X; if X is @, you get the number of seconds since the Unix epoch. Below I print three tab-separated columns: the time in sortable format, the file name, and the time in human-readable format; cut -f 2- removes the first column and the call to expand replaces the tab by enough spaces to accommodate all expected file names (adjust 40 as desired). This code assumes you have no newlines or tabs in file names.

find -maxdepth 1 -type f \
     -newermt "$timestring" -printf '%T@\t%f\t%Tb %Td %TH:%TM\n' |
sort -k1n |
cut -f 2- |
expand -t 40

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Shell – Suggested setup for an ultra-lightweight text-based programming environment in linux

Shell – list all files newer than given timestamp and sort them

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