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TOUCH(1)			 User Commands			      TOUCH(1)

NAME
       touch - change file timestamps

SYNOPSIS
       touch [OPTION]... FILE...

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

       A FILE argument that does not exist is created empty, unless -c	or  -h
       is supplied.

       A  FILE	argument  string of - is handled specially and causes touch to
       change the times	of the file associated with standard output.

       Mandatory arguments to long options are	mandatory  for	short  options
       too.

       -a     change only the access time

       -c, --no-create
	      do not create any	files

       -d, --date=STRING
	      parse STRING and use it instead of current time

       -f     (ignored)

       -h, --no-dereference
	      affect each symbolic link	instead	of any referenced file (useful
	      only on systems that can change the timestamps of	a symlink)

       -m     change only the modification time

       -r, --reference=FILE
	      use this file's times instead of current time

       -t [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.ss]
	      use  specified  time  instead  of	current	time, with a date-time
	      format that differs from -d's

       --time=WORD
	      specify which  time  to  change:	access	time  (-a):  'access',
	      'atime', 'use'; modification time	(-m): 'modify',	'mtime'

       --help display this help	and exit

       --version
	      output version information and exit

DATE STRING
       The  --date=STRING  is  a mostly	free format human readable date	string
       such as "Sun, 29	Feb 2004 16:21:42 -0800" or "2004-02-29	 16:21:42"  or
       even  "next Thursday".  A date string may contain items indicating cal-
       endar date, time	of day,	time zone, day of week,	relative  time,	 rela-
       tive date, and numbers.	An empty string	indicates the beginning	of the
       day.   The date string format is	more complex than is easily documented
       here but	is fully described in the info documentation.

AUTHOR
       Written by Paul Rubin, Arnold Robbins, Jim  Kingdon,  David  MacKenzie,
       and Randy Smith.

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright  (C) 2025 Free	Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU
       GPL version 3 or	later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free  to	change	and  redistribute  it.
       There is	NO WARRANTY, to	the extent permitted by	law.

SEE ALSO
       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/touch>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) touch invocation'

GNU coreutils 9.6		 January 2025			      TOUCH(1)

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