NAME

touch − update the access and modification times of a file

SYNOPSIS

touch [ −c ] [ −f ] filename...

AVAILABILITY

The System V version of this command is available with the System V software installation option.  Refer to for information on how to install optional software. 

DESCRIPTION

touch sets the access and modification times of each argument to the current time.  A file is created if it does not already exist. 

touch is valuable when used in conjunction with make(1S), where, for instance, you might want to force a complete rebuild of a program composed of many pieces.  In such a case, you might type:

example% touch ∗.c
example% make

make(1S) would then see that all the .c files were more recent than the corresponding .o files, and would start the compilation from scratch. 

OPTIONS

−c Do not create filename if it does not exist. 

−f Attempt to force the touch in spite of read and write permissions on filename.

FILES

usr/ucb/touch BSD touch

SEE ALSO

make(1S), utimes(2)

SunOS 5.5  —  Last change: 3 Aug 1994