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. 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) -m change only the modification time -r, --reference=FILE use this files 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: equiv alent 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. AUTHOR Written by Paul Rubin, Arnold Robbins, Jim Kingdon, David MacKenzie, and Randy Smith. REPORTING BUGS Report bugs to . COPYRIGHT Copyright 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. SEE ALSO The full documentation for touch is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and touch programs are properly installed at your site, the command info touch should give you access to the complete manual. GNU coreutils 6.9.92.4-f088d-dirtJanuary 2008 TOUCH(1)