Definition:
In the terminal, when you use the touch command on a file that already exists, it remains unchanged.
If the file is already present, touch only updates its last accessed and modified time—it does not create a new file.
Syntax:
touch [option] filename
Options:
- -a: Updates just the file’s access time, leaving the modification time unchanged.
- -m: Updates only the modification time of the file, not the access time.
- -c: If the file does not exist, it will not create a new file; it just skips.
- -t: You can give the file your own date and time instead of the system’s current time.
Example 1 – Create a new file
Command:
touch file.txt
Explanation: If file.txt does not exist, this command creates an empty file. If it exists, it updates its access/modified time.
Output:
$ ls -l -rw-r--r-- 1 user group 0 Sep 9 12:30 file.txt
Example 2 – Create multiple files
Command:
touch file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
Explanation: Creates multiple files at once or updates their timestamps if they already exist.
Output:
$ ls -l -rw-r--r-- 1 user group 0 Sep 9 12:30 file1.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 user group 0 Sep 9 12:30 file2.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 user group 0 Sep 9 12:30 file3.txt
Example 3 – Change date & time
Command:
touch -t 202509091230 file.txt
Explanation: Sets the file’s last modified/access time to 2025-09-09 12:30.
Output:
$ ls -l -rw-r--r-- 1 user group 0 Sep 9 12:30 file.txt
Option Examples:
touch -a file.txt
Before: -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Sep 8 10:00 file.txt After: -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Sep 8 11:15 file.txt
touch -m file.txt
Before: -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Sep 8 10:00 file.txt After: -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Sep 8 11:20 file.txt
touch -c file_not_exist.txt
(no output)
touch -t 202509091230.45 file.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Sep 9 12:30 file.txt