There are several commands you can use to view a file in Linux and Unix operating systems:
- cat: The
cat
command is used to concatenate and display the contents of a file. It can be used to view the entire contents of a file or to display specific parts of a file. For example:
cat file.txt
- less: The
less
command is a program similar tocat
that allows you to view a file one page at a time. You can use the up and down arrows to navigate through the file and typeq
to quit. For example:
less file.txt
- head: The
head
command is used to display the first few lines of a file. By default, it displays the first 10 lines, but you can specify a different number of lines using the-n
option. For example:
head -n 20 file.txt
- tail: The
tail
command is used to display the last few lines of a file. By default, it displays the last 10 lines, but you can specify a different number of lines using the-n
option. For example:
tail -n 20 file.txt
- more: The
more
command is similar to theless
command, but it does not allow you to scroll backwards through the file. For example:
more file.txt