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SETFILE(1)                               BSD General Commands Manual                              SETFILE(1)

NAME
     /usr/bin/SetFile -- set attributes of files and directories

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

DESCRIPTION
     /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 apply-ing applying
     ing 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 hexa-decimal hexadecimal
                    decimal 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 pro-vided provided
                    vided 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