Linux touch command usage examples

Command definition

The touch command in Linux is primarily used to create empty files or update the timestamps of existing files. When you execute touch followed by a file name, it will create a new, empty file if it does not already exist. If the file does exist, touch will update its last access and modification times to the current time without modifying its content.

Usage examples

Create a new empty file: You can create a new file simply by typing touch filename.txt. This will create an empty file named filename.txt in the current directory.
bash touch filename.txt
Update the timestamp of an existing file: If you have a file and want to update its access and modification times, you can use touch filename.txt. This will not change the file's content but will refresh its timestamps.
bash touch filename.txt
Create multiple files at once: You can create multiple files in one command by listing them, for example, touch file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt. This will create three empty files.
bash touch file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
Create a file in a specific directory: To create a file in a specific directory, you can specify the path, like touch myfolder/filename.txt. This command creates filename.txt inside myfolder.
bash touch myfolder/filename.txt
Change the timestamp of multiple files: To update the timestamps of multiple files at once, use touch file1.txt file2.txt. This will refresh the timestamps of both files.
bash touch file1.txt file2.txt
Create a file with a specific timestamp: You can set a specific timestamp using the -t option, like touch -t 202301010101 filename.txt, which sets the timestamp to January 1, 2023, at 01:01 AM.
bash touch -t 202301010101 filename.txt
Create a file with the current date and time: By simply executing touch filename.txt, you can create or update a file with the current date and time as its timestamp.
bash touch filename.txt
Use with wildcard to create multiple files: You can use wildcards to create multiple files, such as touch file{1..5}.txt, which creates file1.txt, file2.txt, file3.txt, file4.txt, and file5.txt.
bash touch file{1..5}.txt
Check if a file exists: After using touch, you can check if a file was created or updated by using ls -l filename.txt to view the file details, including its timestamp.
bash ls -l filename.txt
Create a file in a non-existent directory: If you try to run touch myfolder/filename.txt without myfolder existing, it will return an error. You must create the directory first with mkdir myfolder.
bash mkdir myfolder && touch myfolder/filename.txt