April 3, 2024

Create and populate a file from the command line with cat

$ cat > file.txt << EOF
> first line you want to add
> second line
> et cetera
> EOF

This command will also create file.txt. No need to create a file before running this command.

Important: if file.txt exists, cat > file.txt will replace existing content.

EOF just stands for ‘End Of File’.

See also:

• Append multiple lines at the end of a file with cat

personal computing command-line interface (cli) gnu linux trisquel shell literacy office applications wiki cat