Mac OS X Panther in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

touch

Synopsis

touch [options] files
                  

For one or more files, updates 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 file size of 0.

Options

-a

Update only the access time.

-c

Don’t create any file that doesn’t already exist.

-f

Try to update even if you don’t have permissions.

-h

The access or modification times of a symbolic link are changed. Access and modification time can be changed at the same time. The -c option is also applied.

-m

Update only the modification time.

-r 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.