How do I create an empty file in emacs?

Question

How can I create an empty file from emacs, ideally from within a dired buffer?

For example, I\'ve just opened a Python module in dired mode, created a new directory,

Answer 1

Programatically and without any dependency on touch, it's quite easy:

(with-temp-buffer (write-file "path/to/empty/file/"))

Answer 2

After this thread, Emacs has added two new commands:

1. make-empty-file
2. dired-create-empty-file

These commands will be available in the emacs 27.1 release.

Answer 3

In addition to other answers on the page, you can use f.el's function f-touch:

M-:(f-touch "__init__.py")RET