| As with directories, files are created
by administrators and users. Many applications also create files.
Every time you create a new word processing document or spreadsheet,
you are creating a new file and should adhere to the file naming
conventions previously mentioned. You must also have adequate
permissions for the directory in which you are working to create
files.
The touch
Command
You can create new, empty files using the touch
command. If you list these
files using the ls -l
command (long listing), you will see that they exist but are zero (0)
bytes in length. Using the touch
command , you can create one or
multiple files simultaneously. Some applications require files to
exist before they can be written. The touch
command is useful for quickly
creating files to experiment with. You can also use the touch
command to update the time and
date that a file is accessed and this will reset the archive bit
making the file available for backup again. Absolute and relative
pathnames can be specified when creating files or directories. The
Figure shows the use of the touch
command to create multiple
files.
| Command Format: |
| touch
filename(s) |
Note: The touch
command creates an empty file
if the file name specified does not exist. Otherwise, the
access/modification time of the existing file is updated.
|