xref: /netbsd/usr.bin/touch/touch.1 (revision 6550d01e)
1.\"	$NetBSD: touch.1,v 1.16 2003/08/07 11:16:44 agc Exp $
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33.\"     @(#)touch.1	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
34.\"
35.Dd April 28, 1995
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
68Attempt to force the update, even if the file permissions do not
69currently permit it.
70.It Fl h
71If
72.Ar file
73is a symbolic link, access and/or modification time of the link is changed.
74This option implies
75.Fl c .
76.It Fl m
77Change the modification time of the file.
78The access time of the file is not changed unless the
79.Fl a
80flag is also specified.
81.It Fl r
82Use the access and modifications times from the specified file
83instead of the current time of day.
84.It Fl t
85Change the access and modification times to the specified time.
86The argument should be in the form
87.Dq [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.SS]
88where each pair of letters represents the following:
89.Pp
90.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact -offset indent
91.It Ar CC
92The first two digits of the year (the century).
93.It Ar YY
94The second two digits of the year.
95If
96.Dq YY
97is specified, but
98.Dq CC
99is not, a value for
100.Dq YY
101between 69 and 99 results in a
102.Dq CC
103value of 19.
104Otherwise, a
105.Dq CC
106value of 20 is used.
107.It Ar MM
108The month of the year, from 1 to 12.
109.It Ar DD
110The day of the month, from 1 to 31.
111.It Ar hh
112The hour of the day, from 0 to 23.
113.It Ar mm
114The minute of the hour, from 0 to 59.
115.It Ar SS
116The second of the minute, from 0 to 61.
117.El
118.Pp
119If the
120.Dq CC
121and
122.Dq YY
123letter pairs are not specified, the values default to the current
124year.
125If the
126.Dq SS
127letter pair is not specified, the value defaults to 0.
128.El
129.Pp
130The
131.Nm
132utility exits 0 on success, and \*[Gt]0 if an error occurs.
133.Sh SEE ALSO
134.Xr utimes 2
135.Sh COMPATIBILITY
136The obsolescent form of
137.Nm ,
138where a time format is specified as the first argument, is supported.
139When no
140.Fl r
141or
142.Fl t
143option is specified, there are at least two arguments, and the first
144argument is a string of digits either eight or ten characters in length,
145the first argument is interpreted as a time specification of the form
146.Dq MMDDhhmm[YY] .
147.Pp
148The
149.Dq MM ,
150.Dq DD ,
151.Dq hh
152and
153.Dq mm
154letter pairs are treated as their counterparts specified to the
155.Fl t
156option.
157If the
158.Dq YY
159letter pair is in the range 69 to 99, the year is set to 1969 to 1999,
160otherwise, the year is set in the 21st century.
161.Sh STANDARDS
162The
163.Nm
164utility is expected to be a superset of the
165.St -p1003.2
166specification.
167.Sh HISTORY
168A
169.Nm
170utility appeared in
171.At v7 .
172.Sh BUGS
173A symbolic link can't be a reference file of access and/or modification time.
174