Question

When touch command is used without any option but with an expression, which of the following timestamps are changed?

(a) modification time

(b) last access time

(c) last inode modification

(d) modification time and last access time

I have been asked this question in semester exam.

Query is from Advanced File Handling Commands topic in chapter Customizing the Environment & More File Attributes of Unix

Answer 1

The correct answer is (d) modification time and last access time

To elaborate: When touch command is used without options but with an expression, it changes both access and modification times. The expression is an eight number using the format MMDDhhmm (month, day, hour and minute). For example,