Bash Create File
touch creates empty files instantly and updates a file's timestamp without touching its contents, making it the go-to command for quickly scaffolding new files.
Creating an Empty File
touch's primary job is to create a file if it doesn't already exist. Run it with a filename and bash instantly creates an empty, zero-byte file at that path — no editor required.
Create a new empty file
$ touch readme.txt
$ ls -l readme.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Jul 16 10:00 readme.txtCreating Several Files at Once
Pass multiple filenames in one command and touch creates every one of them. This is a quick way to scaffold a set of files, such as the pieces of a new project, before you start editing them.
Scaffold a handful of files
$ touch index.html style.css script.js
$ ls
index.html script.js style.cssUpdating Timestamps on Existing Files
If the file already exists, touch does not erase or change its content — it only updates the file's last-modified and last-accessed timestamps to the current time. This is useful for triggering tools that watch for changed files, or for testing scripts that sort by modification date.
Bump a file's timestamp
$ touch readme.txt
$ stat -c '%y' readme.txt
2026-07-16 10:03:47.000000000 +0530- touch file — create an empty file, or update its timestamp if it already exists
- touch a.txt b.txt c.txt — create several files at once
- touch -t 202601011200 file — set a specific timestamp
- touch -r other.txt file — copy other.txt's timestamp onto file
- touch -c file — update the timestamp only if the file exists, never create it
