Reading and Editing

Reading files

Table : Reading files

Command	Description	Example
cat	Display the full content	cat file.txt
less	Read page by page	less file.txt
head	Display the first 10 lines	head file.txt
tail	Display the last 10 lines	tail file.txt
tail -f	Follow changes in real time	tail -f log.txt

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Editing files

• nano file.txt → simple, intuitive editor.
• vim file.txt → advanced, powerful editor with a steep learning curve.

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Best Practices

• Use less instead of cat for long files.
• Use tail -f to monitor logs in real time.
• Start with nano before diving into vim.