touch

What is touch?

touch is used to create a file without any content. The file created using touch command is empty. This command can be used when the user doesn’t have data to store at the time of file creation.

How to use touch

# syntax
touch <FILE>

##### create a empty textfile
touch test.txt

##### create multiple empty textfiles
touch test1.txt test2.txt test3.txt

##### change access time (this is used to change access time only)
touch -a filename.txt

##### check whether a file is created or not. If not, then don't create it. This commands avoids creating files if it already exists
touch -c fileName.txt

##### update access and modification time
touch -c-d '16 sep' fileName.txt

##### change only the modification time
touch -m fileName.txt

##### use the timestamp of another file on a file of your choosing (first_file_name.txt will have the time stamp of second_file_name.txt)
touch -r second_file_name.txt first_file_name.txt

##### create a file using a specified time
touch -t YYMMDDHHMM fileName.txt

Reference

• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/touch-command-in-linux-with-examples/#:~:text=The%20touch%20command%20is%20a,modify%20timestamps%20of%20a%20file.&text=cat%20command%3A%20It%20is%20used,using%20touch%20command%20is%20empty.