Chapter 9

Basic File Processing

Displaying File Contents

• cat, cat w/append• tac• nl• pr• more• less• head• tail

Table 9.1 Some Useful less Commands

Table 9.1 More less Commands

File Location Commands

• cp• mv• ln• rm• mkdir• rmdir

Figure 9.1  Current directory before and after command cp temp temp.bak

Figure 9.2 Current directory before and after command mv temp backups/temp.old

Figure 9.3  Current directory before and after command

rm temp backups/temp.old

File Statistics Commands

• ls –l• wc

Comparing Files

• cmp, zcmp • diff, zdiff – Output is a set of commands that can be used

with the ed (or vi) editor to convert the first file into the second file

– Often used to send out upgrades

Table 9.2 File Conversion Instructions Produced by diff

Removing Repeated Lines

• uniq command• Intended for use on sorted files• Produces an output file with only one copy of

any repeated consecutive lines

Table 9.3 Printing