`touch` command

Create empty files or update file timestamps.

Files & directories
Package coreutils
5 options · 5 examples

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Syntax
Common options
Examples
Related commands

Syntax

touch [options] file…

Provided by the coreutils package. Run man touch for the full manual.

Common options

Option	What it does
`-a`	Change only the access time
`-m`	Change only the modification time
`-c`	Don't create files that don't exist
`-d DATE`	Use this date instead of now
`-r FILE`	Copy the timestamps of FILE

Examples

Create an empty file
```
touch notes.txt
```
Create several files
```
touch a.txt b.txt c.txt
```
Set a specific date
```
touch -d "2026-01-01 10:00" file.txt
```
Copy timestamps from another file
```
touch -r original.txt copy.txt
```
Update the time only if the file exists
```
touch -c app.log
```

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