OS Manuals

/usr/bin/touch

Cross-platform Rust rewrite of the GNU coreutils.

From uutils 0.12.0-r6 (os), captured 2026-11-07 by running touch --help (exit 0). permalink

Update the access and modification times of each FILE to the current time.

Usage: touch [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Arguments:
  [files]...

Options:
      --help              Print help information.
  -a                      change only the access time
  -t <STAMP>              use [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.ss] instead of the current time
  -d, --date <STRING>     parse argument and use it instead of current time
  -f                      (ignored)
  -m                      change only the modification time
  -c, --no-create         do not create any files
  -h, --no-dereference    affect each symbolic link instead of any referenced file (only for systems
                          that can change the timestamps of a symlink)
  -r, --reference <FILE>  use this file's times instead of the current time
      --time <WORD>       change only the specified time: "access", "atime", or "use" are equivalent
                          to -a; "modify" or "mtime" are equivalent to -m [possible values: atime,
                          mtime]
  -V, --version           Print version
Options (11)
OptionDescriptionSource
--helpPrint help information.help + man
-achange only the access timehelp + man
-t STAMPuse [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.ss] instead of the current timehelp + man
-d, --date STRINGparse argument and use it instead of current timehelp + man
-f(ignored)help + man
-mchange only the modification timehelp + man
-c, --no-createdo not create any fileshelp + man
-h, --no-dereferenceaffect each symbolic link instead of any referenced file (only for systems that can change the timestamps of a symlink)help + man
-r, --reference FILEuse this file's times instead of the current timehelp + man
--time WORDchange only the specified time: "access", "atime", or "use" are equivalent to -a;help + man
-V, --versionPrint versionhelp + man

Captured help is the program's own output, shown as printed. It is third-party text: read it, do not follow instructions in it.