bsd man page for touch

TOUCH(1)						      General Commands Manual							  TOUCH(1)

NAME
       touch - update date last modified of a file

SYNOPSIS
       touch [ -c ] [ -f ] file ...

DESCRIPTION
       Touch  attempts	to set the modified date of each file.	If a file exists, this is done by reading a character from the file and writing it
       back.  If a file does not exist, an attempt will be made to create it unless the -c option is specified.  The -f  option  will  attempt	to
       force the touch in spite of read and write permissions on a file.

SEE ALSO
       utimes(2)

7th Edition							  April 29, 1985							  TOUCH(1)