Bash touch Command - Change File Timestamps

The touch command is used to change file timestamps or create an empty file if it doesn't exist.

It's often used to create placeholder files or update timestamps for build systems.

To update the access and modification times of a file, use touch filename :

The touch command has options to change how it works:

• -a - Update only when the file was last read
• -m - Update only when the file was last changed
• -t - Set the timestamp to a specific time
• -c - Do not create any files

The -a option lets you update the access time of a file.

The -m option lets you update only the modification time of a file.

The -t option allows you to set the timestamp to a specific time.

The -c option tells touch not to create any files if they do not exist.

This is useful when you want to update timestamps without accidentally creating new files.

Wildcards allow you to update timestamps on multiple files at once.

For example, touch *.txt will update the timestamps of all text files in the directory.