Another way to create a text file

You can create a multiline text file without using any text editor. This is done like this:

# cat > ~/test.txt <<EOF

~/test.txt is the file we want to create. Now you can type the contents line by line. When you are finished, type EOF:

>EOF

Another way to create a text file by George Notaras is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2005 - Some Rights Reserved

4 responses on “Another way to create a text file”

Yannick January 4, 2006 at 02:36Permalink →

I use:
cat > test.txt
next I type the contents line by line and hit CTRL+C when I finished typing..

Seems to do the same thing but a bit easier :)

George Notaras Post authorJanuary 5, 2006 at 08:19Permalink →

Hi, Yannick. I just now noticed your comment. Was busy doing some things on the site…
Thanks for this tip. Works just fine. An absolutely quicker way than the one I wrote about. :-)

agorf December 19, 2006 at 14:01Permalink →

Ctrl+D is more appropriate since it stands for EOF (End Of File).

George Notaras Post authorDecember 20, 2006 at 06:12Permalink →

Indeed, Ctrl-D is more appropriate and, apparently, the correct alternative choice to typing “EOF”.

Related Articles

4 responses on “Another way to create a text file”