LINUX COMMAND ATLAS · COMMAND GUIDE

Linux touch command

Create an empty file, or update an existing file’s modification time.

GNU Coreutils

Syntax

Command form

touch [OPTION]... FILE...

6 options

Option	What it does
`-a`	Change only the access time.
`-m`	Change only the modification time.
`-c, --no-create`	Do not create a missing file.
`-d, --date=STRING`	Use a parsed date/time instead of the current time.
`-r, --reference=FILE`	Copy timestamps from another file.
`-t STAMP`	Use a timestamp in [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.ss] format.

2 examples

Create an empty file, or update an existing file’s modification time.

touch notes.txt

Copy source.txt timestamps to copy.txt.

touch -r source.txt copy.txt

touch changes metadata rather than file contents; timestamp updates can affect build tools and backup software.