Each file in Linux is associated with a timestamp, and each file stores information about when it was last accessed, when it was modified, and when it was changed. The file event stamp is automatically updated when a new file is created or an existing file is accessed or modified. The following is a practical example of the Linux touch command, a standard Unix/Linux operating system program used to create, change, and modify file timestamps.
Touch Specifies the touch command options
a Used to change the access time.
c If the file does not exist, it is not created.
d Update access and change time.
r only changes the modification time. m Use file access and modify time.
t Create the file at the specified time.
Create a single empty file using touch
For example, we need to use the touch command to create an empty file named shee1:
# touch shee1
Create multiple empty files using touch
Or we want to create multiple single files, for example, create three files and name them sheet1, sheet2, and sheet3.
# touch sheet1 sheet2 sheet3
Change file access and modification times
When we need to change or update the last access and modification time of a file named sheet1, when the sheet1 file does not exist and need to create a new file with the same name, we can use the following command:
# touch -a sheet1
The find and Is commands are also used in popular Linux commands to find and list files using timestamps.
Avoid creating new files in the touch command
When the file sheet does not exist, you can avoid creating a new file with the c option:
# touch -c sheet
If you want to change the modification time of the sheet file, m will only update the last modification time of the file and not the access time:
# touch -m sheet
If you want to explicitly set access and modification times
You can set a specific time with the c and t options:
# touch -c -t YYDDHHMM sheet
For example, the following command sets the access and modification date and time of the file sheet to 17:30 on February 19 (17:30 PM) in the current year (2025).
# touch -c -t 02191730 sheet
You can verify the access and modification time of the file sheet with the ls -l command:
# ls -l
The touch command with the -r option updates the timestamp of the file meena with the timestamp of the sheet file. Therefore, both files have the same timestamp.
# touch -r sheet meena
To create a file with a specified time other than the current time, the format should be
# touch -t YYMMDDHHMM.SS sheet
For example, the following touch command with the -t option will give the sheet file a timestamp of 18:30:55 PM on February 10, 2025.
# touch-t 202502101830.55 sheet
