Windows equivalent of the Linux command 'touch'?

Question

What do you use when you want to update the date-modified field of a file on Windows?

commands accessible via C++, .NET, C#, or something native to Windows (Vista preferably)
tools/applications preferably free, and if possible open source as well

Edit: there is already a page for applications as pointed out by CheapScotsman here.

If anyone knows how I can do this via C++, C#, WSH or something similar, well and good, else I would think everything else is covered in the linked question.

score 444 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

If you want to touch the date stamp of a file using windows, use the following command at the command prompt:

copy /b filename.ext +,,

(where filename.ext is your file's name). The +,, is a special flag to copy telling it to simply update the date/time on the file:

* Changing the time and date of a file

If you want to assign the current time and date to a file without modifying the file, use the following syntax:

copy /b Source+,,

The commas indicate the omission of the Destination parameter.

Edit based on comments by Lumi and Justin: put this in a batch file, eg. touch.cmd

@COPY /B %1+,, %1

This works even if the file is not in the current directory (tested on Windows 7).

score 169 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 09 '08 at 09:13

169

I've used and recommend unxutils which are native Win32 ports of lots of common Unix utilities. There is a touch command in there.

answered Sep 09 '08 at 09:13

Greg Hewgill

5,619

score 115 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 09 '11 at 14:18

115

If all you want is to change the file's last modified date (which was my case):

C:\> powershell  (ls your-file-name-here).LastWriteTime = Get-Date

answered Sep 09 '11 at 14:18

ThiagoAlves

1,271

score 70 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 16 '11 at 15:21

type nul >>file & copy file +,,

Creates file if it does not exist.
Leaves file contents alone.
Just uses cmd built-ins.
Both last-access and creation times updated.

UPDATE

Gah! This doesn't work on read-only files, whereas touch does. I suggest:

:touch
if not exist "%~1" type nul >>"%~1"& goto :eof
set _ATTRIBUTES=%~a1
if "%~a1"=="%_ATTRIBUTES:r=%" (copy "%~1"+,,) else attrib -r "%~1" & copy "%~1"+,, & attrib +r "%~1"

score 33 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 21 '23 at 03:24

@dash-tom-bang:

Here is Technet's explanation of the mysterious '+' and commas:

copy /b Source+,,
The commas indicate the omission of the Destination parameter.

The copy command supports merging multiple files into a single destination file. Since a blank destination cannot be specified using a space character at the command prompt, two commas can be used to denote that.

And this is Technet's copy command reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490886.aspx

score 23 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 22 '09 at 05:59

23

If you feel like coding it yourself, .NET offers the File.SetLastAccessTime, File.SetCreationTime and File.SetLastWriteTime methods.

answered Jul 22 '09 at 05:59

Fredrik Mörk

455

score 23 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 25 '18 at 09:29

23

I tried this to create an empty file in my batch script. You can use this:

ECHO text>file1.txt

edited Apr 25 '18 at 09:29

Pang

1,017

answered Jul 10 '13 at 11:52

pkm

354

score 22 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 13 '12 at 14:54

here is a recursive version using powershell... this will change the last modified time for all files and subdirectories, and files within this directory's subdirectories

ps c:myDir> Get-ChildItem . * -recurse | ForEach-Object{$_.LastWriteTime = get-date}

score 17 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 09 '08 at 09:18

The GnuWin32 project has Windows ports of the Gnu versions of the Unix command line utilities.

It comes as a number of separate packages and you can install just the commands you need with no other dependencies. For touch you would need the CoreUtils package.

score 15 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 21 '09 at 22:03

15

Here's a simple regfile I wrote to add right-click "touch" in Windows explorer. It'd be easy to script it, too, since it just calls:

cmd.exe /c copy %1+nul %1 /by

answered Jul 21 '09 at 22:03

Jon Galloway

469

score 15 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 09 '08 at 09:17

cygwin comes with touch. I know you mentioned that you don't want to install a whole framework, but cygwin is quite lightweight, and can be called from dos command window without the whole unix-like command line turned on.

You can also control what tools to install, so you could simply install the touch.exe file, and leave the rest of the framework.

score 13 · Answer 12 · answered Sep 09 '08 at 09:13

13

Native win32 ports of many unix commands, including touch.

I've used it before and it works well - no installation, no DLLs, etc

answered Sep 09 '08 at 09:13

Adam Davis

4,405

score 10 · Answer 13 · answered Sep 09 '08 at 09:19

10

Try this one from CodeProject.

No need to install.
If you want, you can even modify the source.

answered Sep 09 '08 at 09:19

Prakash

209

score 10 · Answer 14 · answered Jul 28 '13 at 21:18

This content can be saved to a reg file. This will add a right click context menu for all files with the "Touch File" ability (tested on Windows 7). Copy all the following lines to reg file. Run the file and approve the question. Right click on any file (or multiple files) - "Touch File" option is now available.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Touch File]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Touch File\command]
@="cmd /C copy /b \"%1\" +,,"

score 9 · Answer 15 · answered Jul 21 '09 at 21:49

9

You could also install Cygwin which gives you Touch as well as a plethora of other *NIX commands.

answered Jul 21 '09 at 21:49

jamesaharvey

101

score 5 · Answer 16 · answered Jul 21 '09 at 21:55

5

There are Windows ports of many Unix utilities. Have a look at unxutils or GnuWin32 projects.

answered Jul 21 '09 at 21:55

VladV

121

score 5 · Answer 17 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

5

From a similar question on Stack Overflow.

For updating timestamps (ignoring the other functionality of touch), I'd go with:

copy /b filename.ext +,,

edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

Community

1

answered Feb 28 '11 at 18:10

Dennis Williamson

111,445

score 5 · Answer 18 · edited Jun 17 '15 at 02:53

5

in PowerShell try:

ni fileName.txt

NI is an alias of the New-Item cmdlet.

edited Jun 17 '15 at 02:53

I say Reinstate Monica

26,651

answered Jun 17 '15 at 00:23

Monfa.red

101

score 4 · Answer 19 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

4

How about codeproject "Touch for Windows": http://www.codeproject.com/KB/applications/touch_win.aspx

edit; Same question as here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51435/windows-version-of-the-unix-touch-command/51439

edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

Community

1

answered Jul 21 '09 at 21:45

CheapScotsman

129

score 4 · Answer 20 · answered Sep 28 '12 at 14:14

If you are using git for one or more projects, the mingw based git-bash for Windows has the touch command. I want to thank @greg-hewgill for pointing out to me that 'nix utilities exist for windows, because it was that which put me on the idea to try touch in git-bash.

score 4 · Answer 21 · answered Dec 31 '12 at 12:39

from the website:

Funduc Software Touch is a free 'touch' utility that allows you to change the time/date &/or attribute stamps on one or more files. In addition, FS Touch can add/subtract a specified number of seconds from the existing file time. You can specify which file(s) and/or subdirectories to change via 'complex file masks'. The program can be run from interactively or the command line. New to version 7.2 is a command line switch to change file modified time stamp +/- the specified number of seconds.

FS Touch runs on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, & Windows 8.

WhoIsRich · Answer 22 · 2018-02-18T22:08:54.617

I wanted the 'touch' feature of cloning / duplicating the file dates from another file, natively, and be usable from a batch file.

So 'drag and drop' video file on to batch file, FFMPEG runs, then 'Date Created' and 'Date Modified' from the input file gets copied to the output file.

This seemed simple at first until you find batch files are terrible at handling unicode file names, in-line PowerShell messes up with file name symbols, and double escaping them is a nightmare.

My solution was make the 'touch' part a seperate PowerShell script which I called 'CLONE-FILE-DATE.ps1' and it contains:

param
(
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$SourcePath,
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$TargetPath
)

(GI -LiteralPath $TargetPath).CreationTime  = (GI -LiteralPath $SourcePath).CreationTime
(GI -LiteralPath $TargetPath).LastWriteTime = (GI -LiteralPath $SourcePath).LastWriteTime

Then here is example usage within my 'CONVERT.BAT' batch file:

%~dp0\ffmpeg -i "%~1" ACTION "%~1-output.mp4"

CHCP 65001 > nul && PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File "%~dp0\CLONE-FILE-DATE.PS1" "%~1" "%~1-output.mp4"

I think the PowerShell is readable, so will just explain the batch speak:

%~dp0 is the current directory of the batch file.

%~1 is the path of the file dropped onto the batch without quotes.

CHCP 65001 > nul sets characters to UTF-8 and swallows the output.

-ExecutionPolicy ByPass allows you to run PowerShell without needing to modify the global policy, which is there to prevent people accidentally running scripts.

score 2 · Answer 23 · answered May 10 '17 at 17:46

2

Well, if you really want to have the touch command available, you can put this in a batch file called touch.bat and stick it in C:\Windows:

TYPE NUL >>%1

Simple enough.

answered May 10 '17 at 17:46

MD XF

224

score 2 · Answer 24 · answered Dec 15 '21 at 02:17

In powershell:

New-Item .\file.txt -ItemType File

I prefer to write touch file.txt like in linux, so I define this in my powershell profile

function New-File($filename)
{
   New-Item -ItemType File ".\$filename"
}
Set-Alias -Name touch -Value New-File

Note: you can edit your profile by running this command

notepad $PROFILE

score 2 · Answer 25 · answered Nov 11 '12 at 01:27

Save the following as touch.bat in your %windir%\system32 folder or add the folder in which it is saved to your PATH environment variable:

@echo off
if %1.==. goto end
if not exist %1 goto end
copy /b %1 +,, > nul
echo %1 touched!
:end

Sample usage:

touch *.cpp
touch somefile.c

Reference: Microsoft KB 69581

score 2 · Answer 26 · answered Aug 07 '09 at 15:53

I found a quick way to do it if you have vim installed (not great for big files, will open entire file then close it...)

vim foobar.txt +wq!

The "+" sets argument to run the following commands. "wq!" is "write, quit, force". This will open file, do a save, then close it immediately afterward.

score 1 · Answer 27 · answered Dec 26 '15 at 20:40

1

I appreciate this is an old question, I just discovered touch on my Windows 10 system. I downloaded and installed Git from here (I think) and it looks like touch and various other utilities are in the bin folder.

answered Dec 26 '15 at 20:40

0909EM

119

score 1 · Answer 28 · answered Oct 08 '10 at 07:46

1

Try

fsutil file createnew new.txt 0

answered Oct 08 '10 at 07:46

score 1 · Answer 29 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

1

The five alternatives mentioned above, plus three more not mentioned here, can be found on SuperUser: "Windows Recursive Touch Command"

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

Community

1

answered Feb 28 '11 at 19:57

JdeBP

27,556
1
77
106

score 1 · Answer 30 · answered Oct 02 '12 at 14:30

1

This is slightly unrelated to the original question, but I find this very useful on Windows due to the GUI.

I'm using the TouchPro utility which provides a GUI (builds into explorer shell):

http://www.jddesign.co.uk/products/touchpro/touchpro.htm

answered Oct 02 '12 at 14:30

rustyx

1,118

score 0 · Answer 31 · answered Apr 11 '19 at 17:41

0

Because I needed this also and a number of other things, I've created my own shell extension that does this: AllSorts I've also open-sourced this here

answered Apr 11 '19 at 17:41

Stijn Sanders

2,496

score 0 · Answer 32 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

The Unix people fixed the general problem of updating the file date of any file with the touch command. However, for Windows, sometimes a simpler method is possible for special cases.

I need to update the timestamp of an application shortcut in Windows 8.1 in order to make changes to the background color of the Application Tile visible, see this SO question. Rather than implementing one of the clever tools above, I find it easier to edit the comment field of the shortcut. Most people leave this empty, but of course, a useful comment is quickly conceived. And if a comment exists, adding or removing a final period does never harm.

Windows equivalent of the Linux command 'touch'?

32 Answers32

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