diff --git a/lib/fakefs.rb b/lib/fakefs.rb
index 550ef74..ed3ae98 100644
--- a/lib/fakefs.rb
+++ b/lib/fakefs.rb
@@ -95,6 +95,10 @@ module FakeFS
     def chown_R(user, group, list, options={})
       chown(user, group, list, options={})
     end
+    
+    def touch(path)
+      FileSystem.add(path, MockFile.new)
+    end
   end
 
   class File
diff --git a/test/fakefs_test.rb b/test/fakefs_test.rb
index c32a657..7481b95 100644
--- a/test/fakefs_test.rb
+++ b/test/fakefs_test.rb
@@ -445,6 +445,11 @@ class FakeFSTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     FileUtils.ln_s 'subdir', 'new'
     assert_equal 'works', File.open('new/nother'){|f| f.read }
   end
+  
+  def test_files_can_be_touched
+    FileUtils.touch(here("file"))
+    assert File.exists?(here("file"))
+  end
 
   def here(fname)
     RealFile.expand_path(RealFile.dirname(__FILE__)+'/'+fname)