•Arnošt Havelka
Creating Files with touch
Use touch to quickly create empty files.
Start Interactive Lesson
The touch command creates empty files instantly. It's the fastest way to create a new file without opening an editor.
Create a Single File
Use touch followed by a filename to create an empty file.
Try the command
Create a new file!
Build the command
touchfilename
touchCreate file - makes an empty file with the specified name.
Terminal
C:\Users\User>touch filename
Create instantly:
Command Prompt
Documents
Downloads
C:\Users\User>ls
Create Multiple Files
Create several files at once by listing them after touch.
Try the command
Create multiple files!
Build the command
touchfile1file2file3
file1 file2 file3Multiple files - creates all of them at once.
Terminal
C:\Users\User>touch file1 file2 file3
Batch creation:
Command Prompt
existing.txt
C:\Users\User>ls
Also Updates Timestamps
If the file already exists, touch updates its modification time without changing its contents.
Command Prompt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 1024 Apr 1 old.txt
C:\Users\User>ls -l old.txt
Knowledge Check
1 / 3What does touch do?
References
These documentation links provide authoritative details for the commands used in this article.