Linux command for file view: more, less, head, tail, cat

1) more = to view a text file one page at a time, press spacebar to go to the next page

more filename : show the document one page at a time

more -num filename : show the document page few lines as specified bu (-num)

example : more -10 filename will show 10 lines for every page

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2) less = is much the same as more command except:

a) You can navigate the page up/down using the less command and not possible in more command.

b) You can search a string in less command. (use /keywordto search)

c) “more” was fairly limited, and additional development on “more” had stopped

d) it uses same functions as vi editor

the usage : less filename

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3) head = displays the first ten lines of a file, unless otherwise stated.

Examples

head myfile.txt – Would display the first ten lines of myfile.txt.

head -15 myfile.txt – Would display the first fifteen lines of myfile.txt.

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4) tail = display the last part of the file

usage : tail filename

tail -n filename : display the last n lines of the file

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5) cat = can be used to join multiple files together and print the result on screen (it will not show page by page)

usage:

cat 01.txt
to displat the contents of file 01.txt

cat 01.txt 02.txt
to display the contents of both files

cat file1.txt file2.txt > file3.txt – Reads file1.txt and file2.txt and  combines those files to make

cat note5 >> notes – attach note5 to notes

cat >> file1 – add additional data in file1