NAME

     touch - change file access and modification times


SYNOPSIS

     touch [-c] [-a] [-m] [-r  file]  [-t  [CC[YY]]MMDDhhmm[.ss]]
     [MMDDhhmm[YY]] file ...


OPTIONS

     -c   Do not create the file if it doesn't already exist

     -a   Change access time

     -m   Change modification time

     -r file
          Apply time of specified file

     -t [CC[YY]]MMDDhhmm[.ss]]
          Apply time specified

     -t [MMDDhhmm[YY]]
          Apply time specified (alternate form)


EXAMPLES

     touch *.h           # Make the .h files look recent

     touch -t 199610010000 *
                         # Change date and time of all  files  in
                         current  directory  to  midnight  Oct 1,
                         1996


DESCRIPTION

     With no options specified, the times  of  last  modification
     and  last  access are set to the current time.  This command
     is mostly used to trick make into thinking that  a  file  is
     more  recent  than  it really is.  If the file being touched
     does not exist,  it  is  created,  unless  the  -c  flag  is
     present.

     The -a or -m flag may be used to change only the  access  or
     modification  time.  The -r or -t flag may be used to change
     the times to match the times of another file or to a  speci-
     fied time.


SEE ALSO

     utime(2).


AUTHOR

     Original author  unknown.   Rewritten  for  POSIX  by  Peter
     Holzer (hp@vmars.tuwien.ac.at).