Display Content of File

Linux has several applications that allow you to view and manipulate text files at the shell prompt. These applications are fast and best suited to manipulating the plain text files of configuration files

Command for displaying content of file:

• cat filename  -  Displays the content of file 
• more filename  -  Browse through a text file 
• less filename  -  Same as more but more features than more 
• head filename  -  Output the begning (or top) portion of file 
• tail  filename  -  Output the ending (or bottom) portion of file

1.  cat

Cat stands for "catenate." It reads data from files, and outputs their contents. It is the simplest way to display the contents of a file at the command line

cat file.list

2.  more 

More is a filter for paging through text one screen at a time. It does not provide as many options or enhancements as less, but is nevertheless quite useful and simple to use

more file.list

SPACE  -  For moving page by page 

ENTER -  For moving word by word 

q  -  For quit

3.  less

Less is a program similar to more, but which allows backward movement in the file as well as forward movement. Also, less does not have to read the entire input file before starting, so with large input files it starts up faster than text editors like vi

less file.list

 4.  head

The head command reads the first few lines of any text given to it as an input and writes them to standard output, by default “head” prints the first 10 lines of a file

head  file.list

By default “head” prints the first 10 lines of a file

head -20 file.txt

Using -20 for more line to be displayed, you can use as many as you want  to see.

 5.  tail

The tail command reads the last few lines of any text given to it as an input and writes them to standard output, by default “tail” prints the last 10 lines of a file

tail  file.list

By default “tail” prints the last 10 lines of a file

tail -20 file.list

Using -20 for more line to be displayed, you can use as many as you want  to see.