Again_Handy_File

AGAIN, HANDY FILE COMMANDS

head
Sometimes textfiles shown with <cat > are much to long to fit on your screen, this command will show you the top 10 lines of a file, with an -20 option you can let it show the first 20.

CODE

$ head -15 fileA

( For the first 15 lines )

tail
Does the same as head, but guess. . . . it shows the last 10.

CODE

$ tail -25 fileA

( For the last 25 lines )

cmp
If you typed a long text, saved it and later the file gets edited and saved again. There is a command to compare the two files and show the differences:

CODE

$ cmp -l fileA fileB

( The l option is to show all differences )

diff
Also checks two files on differences but in another way, just try:

CODE

$ diff -by fileA fileB

( The b option is for ignoring black space the y option to sort the output side by side )

lpr
This is a simple one, as you´re in the commandline might as well print with it:

CODE

$ lpr fileA

( Will print the fileA )

CODE

$ lpr -#5 fileA

( Will print the file 5 times )

touch
Will create an empty file ( you can write to that file later )

CODE

$ touch fileA

A FEW TIME RELATED COMMANDS: ( useless but nice to know )

date
Will show you the current date

time
Will show you the current time

NOTE: you can run several commands on one line seperating them with an ¨;¨ so

CODE

$ date; time

Will show you: ¨Fri May 9 21:34:37 CEST 2003¨

Bruno

-- May 9 2003 ( Revised Dec 10 2005 ) --