Touch (command): Difference between revisions

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	In ], '''<code>touch</code>''' is a ] used to update the access date and/or modification date of a ] or ]. It is included in ] and ] ]s, ]'s ],<ref></ref> ]/] ], the ] shell,<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://aros.sourceforge.io/documentation/users/shell/index.php\|title=AROS Research Operating System\|website=aros.sourceforge.io}}</ref> the ] ] shell,<ref>{{cite book\|author=Paul S. Dayan\|year=1992\|title=The OS-9 Guru - 1 : The Facts\|publisher=Galactic Industrial Limited\|isbn=0-9519228-0-7}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://github.com/reactos/reactos\|title=reactos/reactos\|website=GitHub}}</ref>		In ], '''<code>touch</code>''' is a ] used to update the access date and/or modification date of a ] or ]. It is included in ] and ] ]s, ]'s ],<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.flexusergroup.com/flexusergroup/pdfs/swflexum.pdf\|title=FLEX 9.0 User’s Manual}}</ref> ]/] ], the ] shell,<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://aros.sourceforge.io/documentation/users/shell/index.php\|title=AROS Research Operating System\|website=aros.sourceforge.io}}</ref> the ] ] shell,<ref>{{cite book\|author=Paul S. Dayan\|year=1992\|title=The OS-9 Guru - 1 : The Facts\|publisher=Galactic Industrial Limited\|isbn=0-9519228-0-7}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://github.com/reactos/reactos\|title=reactos/reactos\|website=GitHub}}</ref>
	The command is also available for ]<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/group-util.html\|title=ibiblio.org FreeDOS Group -- Utilities\|website=www.ibiblio.org}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.binarez.com/touch_dot_exe\|title=touch for Windows}}</ref>		The command is also available for ]<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/group-util.html\|title=ibiblio.org FreeDOS Group -- Utilities\|website=www.ibiblio.org}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.binarez.com/touch_dot_exe\|title=touch for Windows}}</ref>

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	==Further reading==		==Further reading==

Revision as of 16:41, 12 September 2020

touch
Original author(s)	AT&T Bell Laboratories
Developer(s)	Paul Rubin, Arnold Robbins, Jim Kingdon, David MacKenzie, Randy Smith, TSC, Microware, Apple, Digital Research, Novell, Kris Heidenstrom
Initial release	January 1979; 45 years ago (1979-01)
Operating system	Unix, Unix-like, Plan 9, Inferno, FLEX, OS-9, Classic Mac OS, Windows, DR DOS, AROS, FreeDOS, ReactOS, KolibriOS, IBM i
Platform	Cross-platform
Type	Command
License	coreutils: GPLv3+ FreeDOS: GPLv2

In computing, touch is a command used to update the access date and/or modification date of a computer file or directory. It is included in Unix and Unix-like operating systems, TSC's FLEX, Digital Research/Novell DR DOS, the AROS shell, the Microware OS-9 shell, and ReactOS. The command is also available for FreeDOS and Microsoft Windows.

Overview

In its default usage, it is the equivalent of creating or opening a file and saving it without any change to the file contents. 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. Typically these types of programs are only concerned with files which have been created or modified after the program was last run. The touch command can also be useful for quickly creating files for programs or scripts that require a file with a specific name to exist for successful operation of the program, but do not require the file to have any specific content.

The Single Unix Specification (SUS) specifies that touch should change the access times, modification times, or both, for a file. The file is identified by a pathname supplied as a single argument. It also specifies that if the file identified does not exist, the file is created and the access and modification times are set as specified. If no new timestamps are specified, touch uses the current time.

History

A touch utility first appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX. Today, the command is available for a number of different operating systems, including many Unix and Unix-like systems, DOS, Microsoft Windows and the classic Mac OS.

The version of touch bundled in GNU coreutils was written by Paul Rubin, Arnold Robbins, Jim Kingdon, David MacKenzie, and Randy Smith.

The command is available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as part the UnxUtils collection of native Win32 ports of common GNU Unix-like utilities. The FreeDOS version was developed by Kris Heidenstrom and is licensed under the GPL. DR DOS 6.0 and KolibriOS include an implementation of the touch command. The touch command has also been ported to the IBM i operating system.

References

"FLEX 9.0 User's Manual" (PDF).
"AROS Research Operating System". aros.sourceforge.io.
Paul S. Dayan (1992). The OS-9 Guru - 1 : The Facts. Galactic Industrial Limited. ISBN 0-9519228-0-7.
"reactos/reactos". GitHub.
"ibiblio.org FreeDOS Group -- Utilities". www.ibiblio.org.
"touch for Windows".
"touch(1): change file timestamps - Linux man page". linux.die.net.
"Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities". unxutils.sourceforge.net.
"ibiblio.org FreeDOS Package -- touch (Unix-like)". www.ibiblio.org.
DR DOS 6.0 User Guide Optimisation and Configuration Tips
"Shell - KolibriOS wiki". wiki.kolibrios.org.
IBM. "IBM System i Version 7.2 Programming Qshell" (PDF). Retrieved 5 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

touch – Shell and Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4 from The Open Group
touch(1) – Linux User Commands Manual
touch(1) – Plan 9 Programmer's Manual, Volume 1
touch(1) – Inferno General commands Manual
examples showing how to use touch

v t e Unix command-line interface programs and shell builtins
File system	cat chattr chmod chown chgrp cksum cmp cp dd du df file fuser ln ls mkdir mv pax pwd rm rmdir split tee touch type umask
Processes	at bg crontab fg kill nice ps time
User environment	env exit logname mesg talk tput uname who write
Text processing	awk basename comm csplit cut diff dirname ed ex fold head iconv join m4 more nl paste patch printf read sed sort strings tail tr troff uniq vi wc xargs
Shell builtins	alias cd echo test unset wait
Searching	find grep
Documentation	man
Software development	ar ctags lex make nm strip yacc
Miscellaneous	bc cal expr lp od sleep true and false
Categories Standard Unix programs Unix SUS2008 utilities List

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