Creating a File Quickly
You can quickly create an empty file (for later editing) using the
touch
command, providing a filename
that does not exist (see File Properties):
➜ touch newfile
Another quick technique uses the echo
command with the -n
option, redirecting its output to a new
file. This option prevents a newline character from being echoed, making
the file truly empty:
➜ echo -n > newfile2
You can also write data into a new file by redirecting the output of a program (see Input/output redirection):
➜ echo anything at all > newfile
If you accidentally provide the name of an existing file, touch
will preserve it but redirecting echo
will erase its contents. So be careful!
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