The touch command is a standard command used in UNIX/Linux operating system which is used to create, change and modify timestamps of a file.

What does the touch command do to a file?

touch avoids opening, saving, and closing the file. Instead it simply updates the dates associated with the file or directory. An updated access or modification date can be important for a variety of other programs such as backup utilities or the make command-line interface programming utility.

What is touch command in Unix examples?

10 practical examples of Touch command on Linux

• Create a blank file. …
• Create multiple files with touch. …
• Create lots and lots of files. …
• Avoid creating new files. …
• Change file access time – ‘a’ …
• Change the modified time ‘-m’ …
• Change access and modification time together. …
• Set a specific access/modify time instead of current time.