TOUCH(1) User Commands TOUCH(1)
NAME
touch - change file timestamps
SYNOPSIS
touch [OPTION]... FILE...
DESCRIPTION
Update the access and modification times of each FILE to the current time.
A FILE argument that does not exist is created empty, unless -c or -h is supplied.
A FILE argument string of - is handled specially and causes touch to change the times of the file associated
with standard output.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
-a change only the access time
-c, --no-create
do not create any files
-d, --date=STRING
parse STRING and use it instead of current time
-f (ignored)
-h, --no-dereference
affect each symbolic link instead of any referenced file (useful only on systems that can change the
timestamps of a symlink)
-m change only the modification time
-r, --reference=FILE
use this file's times instead of current time
-t STAMP
use [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.ss] instead of current time
--time=WORD
change the specified time: WORD is access, atime, or use: equivalent to -a WORD is modify or mtime:
equivalent to -m
--help display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
Note that the -d and -t options accept different time-date formats.
GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> Report touch translation bugs to
<http://translationproject.org/team/>
DATE STRING
The --date=STRING is a mostly free format human readable date string such as "Sun, 29 Feb 2004 16:21:42 -0800"
or "2004-02-29 16:21:42" or even "next Thursday". A date string may contain items indicating calendar date,
time of day, time zone, day of week, relative time, relative date, and numbers. An empty string indicates the
SEE ALSO
The full documentation for touch is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and touch programs are prop‐
erly installed at your site, the command
info coreutils 'touch invocation'
should give you access to the complete manual.
GNU coreutils 8.22 November 2016 TOUCH(1)
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