Using `touch` in a Windows Python File

Question

I have a Python file running on macOS which calls touch in the following ways:

os.system("touch -c %s" % apicache_file)

os.system("touch -c %s" % downloadFilename)

os.system("touch -c %s" % meta_cache_file)

However, I need to run the script on a Windows machine. How can I modify the script or the system to allow this to be done? Otherwise, I receive the following error:

'touch' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file

Answer 1

Just don't use shell commands. Touch can be done with platform independent pathlib

from pathlib import Path

Path("some/path/file.txt").touch()

Simple open(path, "w") would also work but path on windows would need \\ instead of /