touch - Nash

Syntax

touch FILE...

Description

The touch command creates empty files in Nash’s virtual filesystem. If a file already exists, the command succeeds silently without modifying the file (unlike Unix touch, which updates timestamps).

Nash’s touch is a simplified version that only creates empty files. It doesn’t update timestamps because the VFS doesn’t track file modification times.

Parameters

FILE

string

required

One or more file paths to create. Can be relative or absolute. Supports multiple files in a single command.

Behavior

Creates empty files: New files are created with zero bytes
Multiple files: Can create multiple files in one command
Existing files: If file exists, no error is raised (idempotent)
Flag handling: Arguments starting with - are silently ignored
No output: Success produces no output (silent operation)

Examples

Create a single file

touch newfile.txt

Create multiple files

touch file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt

Create files in different directories

touch /home/user/notes.txt /tmp/cache.txt

Create placeholder files

touch README.md LICENSE .gitignore

Create files with special names

touch "file with spaces.txt"
touch .hidden_file

Verify file creation

touch test.txt
ls -l test.txt

-rw-r--r--         0  test.txt

Create structure for a project

mkdir -p src tests docs
touch src/main.rs tests/test.rs docs/README.md
tree

.
├── docs/
│   └── README.md
├── src/
│   └── main.rs
└── tests/
    └── test.rs

Error Handling

Parent directory doesn’t exist

touch /nonexistent/file.txt

Returns an error from the VFS layer indicating the parent directory doesn’t exist.

Invalid path

touch ""

May fail with a VFS error for invalid paths.

Read-only filesystem

# If /data is mounted with --bind-ro
touch /data/newfile.txt

Fails with a permission error from the VFS layer.

Implementation Details

Source: src/builtins/touch.rs
Uses vfs.touch() to create files
Iterates through all non-flag arguments
Arguments starting with - are filtered out but not validated
No timestamp updates (VFS doesn’t track timestamps)
Creates empty files (zero bytes)

Unlike Unix touch, Nash’s version doesn’t support timestamp-related flags like -t, -d, -a, or -m because the VFS doesn’t maintain file timestamps.

Differences from Unix touch

Feature	Unix touch	Nash touch
Create empty file	✅ Supported	✅ Supported
Multiple files	✅ Supported	✅ Supported
Update access time	✅ `-a` flag	❌ No timestamps
Update modification time	✅ `-m` flag	❌ No timestamps
Set specific time	✅ `-t`, `-d`	❌ No timestamps
No-create mode	✅ `-c` flag	❌ Not supported
Reference file	✅ `-r` flag	❌ Not supported
Existing files	Updates time	No change

Use Cases

Initialize project files

touch index.html style.css script.js

Create placeholder for later

touch TODO.txt
echo "- Implement feature X" >> TODO.txt

Prepare test environment

mkdir test_data
touch test_data/input1.txt test_data/input2.txt test_data/input3.txt

Create configuration files

touch .env config.json settings.yaml

Batch file creation

for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do
  touch "file$i.txt"
done

Common Patterns

Create and immediately edit

touch newscript.sh
echo "#!/bin/nash" > newscript.sh
echo "echo 'Hello World'" >> newscript.sh

Ensure file exists before operations

touch logfile.txt
echo "Starting process..." >> logfile.txt

Create test fixtures

mkdir -p tests/fixtures
touch tests/fixtures/empty.txt
echo "sample data" > tests/fixtures/sample.txt

Initialize documentation structure

mkdir -p docs/{api,guides,reference}
touch docs/README.md
touch docs/api/index.md
touch docs/guides/getting-started.md
touch docs/reference/commands.md

Working with Mount Points

Create files in mounted directory

# Launch Nash with: nash --bind ./workspace:/workspace
touch /workspace/new_document.txt

This creates a real file in ./workspace/new_document.txt on the host system.

Create files that persist

# Without mounts, files exist only in memory
touch /tmp/ephemeral.txt  # Lost when Nash exits

# With mount, files persist on host
# nash --bind ./persistent:/persistent
touch /persistent/permanent.txt  # Saved to host

mkdir - Create directories
rm - Remove files
ls - List files to verify creation
stat - Check file information
cat - View or create file with content
echo - Write content to files

Overview

File Operations

Directory Operations

Text Processing

Data Processing

Environment & Shell

Utilities

​Syntax

​Description

​Parameters

​Behavior

​Examples

​Create a single file

​Create multiple files

​Create files in different directories

​Create placeholder files

​Create files with special names

​Verify file creation

​Create structure for a project

​Error Handling

​Parent directory doesn’t exist

​Invalid path

​Read-only filesystem

​Implementation Details

​Differences from Unix touch

​Use Cases

​Initialize project files

​Create placeholder for later

​Prepare test environment

​Create configuration files

​Batch file creation

​Common Patterns

​Create and immediately edit

​Ensure file exists before operations

​Create test fixtures

​Initialize documentation structure

​Working with Mount Points

​Create files in mounted directory

​Create files that persist

​Related Commands

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Syntax

Description

Parameters

Behavior

Examples

Create a single file

Create multiple files

Create files in different directories

Create placeholder files

Create files with special names

Verify file creation

Create structure for a project

Error Handling

Parent directory doesn’t exist

Invalid path

Read-only filesystem

Implementation Details

Differences from Unix touch

Use Cases

Initialize project files

Create placeholder for later

Prepare test environment

Create configuration files

Batch file creation

Common Patterns

Create and immediately edit

Ensure file exists before operations

Create test fixtures

Initialize documentation structure

Working with Mount Points

Create files in mounted directory

Create files that persist

Related Commands