xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/touch/touch.1 (revision a5847cc334d9a7029f6352b847e9e8d71a0f9e0c)
1.\"	$NetBSD: touch.1,v 1.18 2011/02/22 15:47:02 wiz Exp $
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33.\"     @(#)touch.1	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
34.\"
35.Dd February 22, 2011
36.Dt TOUCH 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm touch
40.Nd change file access and modification times
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl acfhm
44.Op Fl r Ar file
45.Op Fl t Ar [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.SS]
46.Ar file ...
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Nm
50utility sets the modification and access times of files to the
51current time of day.
52If the file doesn't exist, it is created with default permissions.
53.Pp
54The following options are available:
55.Bl -tag -width Ds
56.It Fl a
57Change the access time of the file.
58The modification time of the file is not changed unless the
59.Fl m
60flag is also specified.
61.It Fl c
62Do not create the file if it does not exist.
63The
64.Nm
65utility does not treat this as an error.
66No error messages are displayed and the exit value is not affected.
67.It Fl f
68This flag has no effect; it is accepted for compatibility reasons.
69.It Fl h
70If
71.Ar file
72is a symbolic link, access and/or modification time of the link is changed.
73This option implies
74.Fl c .
75.It Fl m
76Change the modification time of the file.
77The access time of the file is not changed unless the
78.Fl a
79flag is also specified.
80.It Fl r
81Use the access and modifications times from the specified file
82instead of the current time of day.
83.It Fl t
84Change the access and modification times to the specified time.
85The argument should be in the form
86.Dq [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.SS]
87where each pair of letters represents the following:
88.Pp
89.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact -offset indent
90.It Ar CC
91The first two digits of the year (the century).
92.It Ar YY
93The second two digits of the year.
94If
95.Dq YY
96is specified, but
97.Dq CC
98is not, a value for
99.Dq YY
100between 69 and 99 results in a
101.Dq CC
102value of 19.
103Otherwise, a
104.Dq CC
105value of 20 is used.
106.It Ar MM
107The month of the year, from 1 to 12.
108.It Ar DD
109The day of the month, from 1 to 31.
110.It Ar hh
111The hour of the day, from 0 to 23.
112.It Ar mm
113The minute of the hour, from 0 to 59.
114.It Ar SS
115The second of the minute, from 0 to 61.
116.El
117.Pp
118If the
119.Dq CC
120and
121.Dq YY
122letter pairs are not specified, the values default to the current
123year.
124If the
125.Dq SS
126letter pair is not specified, the value defaults to 0.
127.El
128.Pp
129The
130.Nm
131utility exits 0 on success, and \*[Gt]0 if an error occurs.
132.Sh COMPATIBILITY
133The obsolescent form of
134.Nm ,
135where a time format is specified as the first argument, is supported.
136When no
137.Fl r
138or
139.Fl t
140option is specified, there are at least two arguments, and the first
141argument is a string of digits either eight or ten characters in length,
142the first argument is interpreted as a time specification of the form
143.Dq MMDDhhmm[YY] .
144.Pp
145The
146.Dq MM ,
147.Dq DD ,
148.Dq hh
149and
150.Dq mm
151letter pairs are treated as their counterparts specified to the
152.Fl t
153option.
154If the
155.Dq YY
156letter pair is in the range 69 to 99, the year is set to 1969 to 1999,
157otherwise, the year is set in the 21st century.
158.Sh SEE ALSO
159.Xr utimes 2
160.Sh STANDARDS
161The
162.Nm
163utility is expected to be a superset of the
164.St -p1003.2
165specification.
166.Sh HISTORY
167A
168.Nm
169utility appeared in
170.At v7 .
171.Sh BUGS
172A symbolic link can't be a reference file of access and/or modification time.
173