HowTo Create Files in Linux From a Bash Shell Prompt

I'm a new to CentOS Linux user. How do I create a file from bash prompt without using GUI tools?

Linux / UNIX like operating system offers many command line tools and text editors for creating text files. You can use vi or joe text editor. It is a terminal-based text editor for Linux/Unix like systems, available under the GPL. It is designed to be easy to use. In short, you can use any one of the following tool:

1. cat command
2. echo or printf command
3. vi text editor
4. joe text editor
5. Any other console based text editor

Create a Text File using cat command

To create a text file called foo.txt, enter:

$ cat > foo.txt

Output:

This is a test.
Hello world!
press CTRL+D to save file

To display file contents, type:

$ cat foo.txt

Create a text file using echo or printf

To create a file called foo.txt, enter:

 
echo 'This is a test' > foo.txt
 

OR

 
printf 'This is a test\n' > foo.txt
 

OR

 
printf 'This is a test\n Another line' > foo.txt
 

To display file contents, type:

 $ cat foo.txt

Create a Text File using joe text editor

JOE is text editor. To create a file called foo.txt, type:

 $ joe -help foo.txt

You will see help menu on screen. Next type something. To save the file and leave joe, by typing ^KX (press CTRL+K+X).

Create a Text File using vi / vim text editor

vi / vim is another text editor. To create a file called bar.txt, type:

$ vi bar.txt

Press 'i' to insert new text. To save the file and leave vi, type ESC+:+x (press ESC key, type : followed by x and [enter] key).