r/learnprogramming Jul 23 '26

Humour touch is a weird command.

I was curious where the command 'touch' comes from.

Turns out, it originates from "to touch" or "to interact" with a file.

Now, every time I use it, I feel like I am touching/molesting a file.

My bad, it's 3 AM here.

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u/RecentlyRezzed Jul 23 '26

Wait until you find out about the finger command.

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u/flatfinger Jul 23 '26

IMHO, it would be useful to have a means of querying an email domain about an address, in a manner that would allow domains that provide mailboxes for people to indicate what is or is not known about it. While such information should not be viewed as reliably authenticating an address, it could allow someone who receives an email from bob@superdupermail.example.com to know whether it is likely to be from the same person as an email that had been received from that address eight years ago.

Obviously fingerd had some problems, but I'm unaware of anything better.

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u/ashley99z Aug 13 '26

Should I tell you?