Linux in a Nutshell, Third Edition

Name

touch

Synopsis

touch [options] files

Description

For one or more files, update the access time and modification time (and dates) to the current time and date. touch is useful in forcing other commands to handle files a certain way; e.g., the operation of make, and sometimes find, relies on a file’s access and modification time. If a file doesn’t exist, touch creates it with a filesize of 0.

Options

-a, --time=atime, --time=access, --time=use

Update only the access time.

-c, --no-create

Do not create any file that doesn’t already exist.

-d time, --date time

Change the time value to the specified time instead of the current time. time can use several formats and may contain month names, time zones, a.m. and p.m. strings, as well as others.

-m, --time=mtime, --time=modify

Update only the modification time.

-r file, --reference file

Change times to be the same as those of the specified file, instead of the current time.

-t time

Use the time specified in time instead of the current time. This argument must be of the format: [[cc]yy]mmddhhmm[.ss], indicating optional century and year, month, date, hours, minutes, and optional seconds.

--help

Print help message and then exit.

--version

Print the version number and then exit.