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Unix Touch command

The touch command updates the access and modification times of each file specified by the File or Directory parameter (you can mix files and directories in the parameter list). Syntax

touch [-acm] [-r ref_file | -t time] file...

Important options are as follows:

1. -a, --time=atime, --time=access, or --time=use Changes access time only
2. -c, or --no-create Doesn't create files that don't exist
3. -m, --time=mtime, or --time=modify Changes modification time only
4. --date=time Uses time instead of current time
5. -r file or --reference=file Uses the times from file instead of the current time

If you do not specify a value for the Time variable, the touch command uses the current time. If you specify a file that does not exist, the touch command creates the file unless you specify the -c flag. Creation of zero length files is  probably the most common usage of the command.  Another common use of touch is to create a large number of files quickly for testing scripts that read and process filenames. The touch command may also be used to assist in backup operations by manipulating access or modification times of files.

The time used can be specified not only using specific time via  -t time option, but also by referencing to an exiting file (with  -r ref_file ).

A user with write access to a file, but who is not the owner of the file or a super-user, can change the modification and access times of that file only to the current time. Attempts to set a specific time with touch will result in an error. There is also a settime utility which is equivalent to touch -c [date_time] file.

The return code from the touch command is the number of files for which the times could not be successfully modified (including files that did not exist and were not created).

For example:

# touch foo bar blatz

If either foo, bar, or blatz does not exist, touch tries to create the file. touch cannot change files that the current user does not own or for which the user does not have write permissions.

Reference

Solaris

touch, settime- change file access and modification times

touch [-acm] [-r ref_file| -t time] file...
touch [-acm] [date_time] file...
settime [-f ref_file] [date_time] file...


The touch utility sets the access and modification times of each file. The file operand is created if it does not already exist.

The time used can be specified by -t time, by the corresponding time fields of the file referenced by -r ref_file, or by the date_time operand. If none of these are specified, touch uses the current time (the value returned by the time(2) function).

If neither the -a nor -m options are specified, touch updates both the modification and access times.

A user with write access to a file, but who is not the owner of the file or a super-user, can change the modification and access times of that file only to the current time. Attempts to set a specific time with touch will result in an error.

The settime utility is equivalent to touch -c [date_time] file.

The following options are supported for the touch utility:

-a

Changes the access time of file. Does not change the modification time unless -m is also specified.

-c

Does not create a specified file if it does not exist. Does not write any diagnostic messages concerning this condition.

-m

Changes the modification time of file. Does not change the access time unless -a is also specified.

-r ref_file

Uses the corresponding times of the file named by ref_file instead of the current time.

-t time

Uses the specified time instead of the current time. time will be a decimal number of the form:

---

[[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm [.SS]

---

where each two digits represent the following:

MM

The month of the year [01-12].

DD

The day of the month [01-31].

hh

The hour of the day [00-23].

mm

The minute of the hour [00-59].

CC

The first two digits of the year.

YY

The second two digits of the year.

SS

The second of the minute [00-61].

 

Both CC and YY are optional. If neither is given, the current year will be assumed. If YY is specified, but CC is not, CC will be derived as follows:

If YY is:	CC becomes:
69-99	19
00-38	20
39-68	ERROR

 

 

The resulting time will be affected by the value of the TZ environment variable. If the resulting time value precedes the Epoch, touch will exit immediately with an error status. The range of valid times is the Epoch to January 18, 2038.

The range for SS is [00-61] rather than [00-59] because of leap seconds. If SS is 60 or 61, and the resulting time, as affected by the TZ environment variable, does not refer to a leap second, the resulting time will be one or two seconds after a time where SS is 59. If SS is not given, it is assumed to be 0.

settime

The following option is supported for the settime utility:

-f ref_file

Uses the corresponding times of the file named by ref_file instead of the current time.

OPERANDS

The following operands are supported for the touch and settime utilities:

file

A path name of a file whose times are to be modified.

date_time

Uses the specified date_time instead of the current time. This operand is a decimal number of the form:

---

MMDDhhmm[YY]

---

where each two digits represent the following:

MM

The month of the year [01-12].

DD

The day of the month [01-31].

hh

The hour of the day [00-23].

mm

The minute of the hour [00-59].

YY

The second two digits of the year.

YY is optional. If it is omitted, the current year will be assumed. If YY is specified, the year will be derived as follows:

 

YY	Corresponding Year
69-99	1969-1999
00-38	2000-2038
39-68	ERROR

 

If no -r option is specified, no -t option is specified, at least two operands are specified, and the first operand is an eight- or ten-digit decimal integer, the first operand will be assumed to be a date_time operand; otherwise, the first operand will be assumed to be a file operand.

USAGE

See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of touch when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2³¹ bytes).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of touch: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

TZ

Determine the timezone to be used for interpreting the time option-argument or the date_time operand.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0

The touch utility executed successfully and all requested changes were made.

>0

An error occurred. The touch utility returned the number of files for which the times could not be successfully modified.

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attrib

AIX

Updates the access and modification times of a file.

touch [  -a ] [  -c ] [  -m ] [  -f ] [  -r RefFile ] [ Time |  -t Time ] { File ... | Directory ... }

 

The touch command updates the access and modification times of each file specified by the File parameter of each directory specified by the Directory parameter. If you do not specify a value for the Time variable, the touch command uses the current time. If you specify a file that does not exist, the touch command creates the file unless you specify the -c flag.

The return code from the touch command is the number of files for which the times could not be successfully modified (including files that did not exist and were not created).

Note: Any dates beyond and including the year 2038 are invalid.

-a	Changes the access time of the file specified by the File variable. Does not change the modification time unless -m is also specified.
-c	Does not create the file if it does not already exist. No diagnostic messages are written concerning this condition.
-f	Attempts to force the touch in spite of read and write permissions on a file.
-m	Changes the modification time of File. Does not change the access time unless -a is also specified.
-r RefFile	Uses the corresponding time of the file specified by the RefFile variable instead of the current time.
Time	Specifies the date and time of the new timestamp in the format MMDDhhmm[YY], where: MM Specifies the month of the year (01 to 12). DD Specifies the day of the month (01 to 31). hh Specifies the hour of the day (00 to 23). mm Specifies the minute of the hour (00 to 59). YY Specifies the last two digits of the year. If the YY variable is not specified, the default value is the current year.
-t Time	Uses the specified time instead of the current time. The Time variable is specified in the decimal form [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.SS] where: CC Specifies the first two digits of the year. YY Specifies the last two digits of the year. MM Specifies the month of the year (01 to 12). DD Specifies the day of the month (01 to 31). hh Specifies the hour of the day (00 to 23). mm Specifies the minute of the hour (00 to 59). SS Specifies the second of the minute (00 to 59).

Notes:

1. The touch command calls the utime () subroutine to change the modification and access times of the file touched. This may cause the touch command to fail when flags are used if you do not actually own the file, even though you may have write permission to the file.
2. Do not specify the full path name /usr/bin/touch if you receive an error message when using the touch command.

Exit Status

This command returns the following exit values:
 

0	The command executed successfully. All requested changes were made.
>0	An error occurred.

Examples

1. To update the access and modification times of a file, enter:

   touch program.c
   

   This sets the last access and modification times of the program.c file to the current date and time. If the program.c file does not exist, the touch command creates an empty file with that name.

2. To avoid creating a new file, enter:
   touch  -c program.c
    
3. To update only the modification time, enter:
   touch  -m *.o
   This updates the last modification times (not the access times) of the files that end with a .o extension in the current directory. The touch command is often used in this way to alter the results of the make command.
4. To explicitly set the access and modification times, enter:
   touch  -c  -t 02171425 program.c
   This sets the access and modification dates to 14:25 (2:25 p.m.) February 17 of the current year.
5. To use the time stamp of another file instead of the current time, enter:
   touch  -r file1 program.c
   This gives the program.c file the same time stamp as the file1 file.
6. To touch a file using a specified time other than the current time, enter:
   touch  -t 198503030303.55 program.c
   This gives the program.c file a time stamp of 3:03:55 a.m. on March 3, 1985.

Files

/usr/bin/touch

Contains the touch command.

Related Information

The date command, locale command.

The utime subroutine.

Directory Overview in AIX 5L Version 5.1 System User's Guide: Operating System and Devices describes the structure and characteristics of directories in the file system.

Files Overview in AIX 5L Version 5.1 System User's Guide: Operating System and Devices describes files, file types, and how to name files.

File and Directory Access Modes in AIX 5L Version 5.1 System User's Guide: Operating System and Devices introduces file ownership and permissions to access files and directories.

Understanding File Types in AIX 5L Version 5.1 General Programming Concepts: Writing and Debugging Programs introduces the commands that control files.