Linux viewing files
---
title: "Viewing File Contents"
category: "linux-tutorials"
description: "Using commands like 'more', 'cat', 'head', and 'tail' to display the contents of text files."
---
# Viewing File Contents
This document explains how to view the contents of text files in the Linux command line environment using common utilities like `cat`, `more`, `head`, and `tail`. These commands allow you to display entire files or specific portions of them directly in your terminal.
## Displaying Entire File Content
There are several ways to display the full content of a file.
### `cat`: Concatenate and Display Files
The `cat` command reads files sequentially, writing them to standard output. It's commonly used to display the contents of short files or to concatenate multiple files.
**Syntax:**
```bash
cat [options] [filename...]
Example: Display a single file
cat my_file.txt
This command will print the entire content of my_file.txt to the terminal.
Example: Using cat with pipes
The cat command can be piped (|) to other commands for further processing. For instance, searching within a file:
cat costdata.dat | grep searchstring
This command displays the contents of costdata.dat and pipes the output to grep, which then prints only the lines containing "searchstring".
Getting Help:
To see options for the cat command, use the --help flag:
cat --help
more: Display File Content Page by Page
The more command displays the contents of a file one screen-full at a time. This is useful for viewing larger files that don't fit entirely on the screen.
Syntax:
more [filename]
Example:
more costdata.dat
Usage:
- When the file content exceeds the screen size,
morepauses after displaying the first page. - Press the Spacebar to advance to the next page.
- Press the
qkey to quitmoreand return to the command prompt.
Example: Using more with pipes
more is often used with pipes to paginate the output of other commands:
ls -l | more
This command lists the directory contents in long format and pipes the output to more, allowing you to view the list page by page if it's long.
Displaying Parts of a File
Sometimes you only need to see the beginning or end of a file.
head: Display the Beginning of a File
The head command displays the first few lines of a file (10 lines by default).
Syntax:
head [options] [filename...]
Example:
head my_large_file.log
This displays the first 10 lines of my_large_file.log.
Example: Specify number of lines
Use the -n option to specify a different number of lines:
head -n 20 my_large_file.log
This displays the first 20 lines.
tail: Display the End of a File
The tail command displays the last few lines of a file (10 lines by default). This is particularly useful for checking log files or the end of large datasets.
Syntax:
tail [options] [filename...]
Example:
tail my_large_file.log
This displays the last 10 lines of my_large_file.log.
Example: Specify number of lines
Use the -n option to specify a different number of lines:
tail -n 50 my_large_file.log
This displays the last 50 lines.
Example: Follow file changes
The -f option allows you to "follow" a file, displaying new lines as they are added (useful for monitoring logs in real-time).
tail -f application.log
Press Ctrl+C to stop following the file.
Breaking Out of Commands
If a command like more or a long cat seems stuck, or if you want to stop a command like tail -f, you can usually interrupt it by pressing Ctrl+C. This will cancel the current command and return you to the command prompt.
```