Viewing files, up close and personal
The Long View

© Christopher Meder, 123RF
If you just want to peek into a text file, Linux has an abundance of commands to satisfy your curiosity.
GNU/Linux is designed to be a hands-on operating system. For that reason, most of its configuration files and system logs are written in plain text, making them easy to read from the command line. If you want to alter these files while logged in as the root user, you'll want to use a file editor such as vi, emacs, or nano. But often you won't want to make changes, you'll just want to look quickly to gather information or to see whether the system is operating the way it should.
To help you view information, GNU/Linux includes a number of view commands. For a glimpse into short files, cat might be enough for you. However, for most purposes, you'll want to try more or, preferably, less. If you are especially interested in the start or end of a file, then head or tail might be the tool to use. The basics of all these commands are easy to learn, all the more so because many use similar options, or at least use similar features.
Taking Out the Cat
Its name tells the story of the original purpose of the cat command, which is short for "concatenate." In other words, the command is designed to join files. Although concatenating is still listed in numerous summaries as the main purpose, I suspect that most people use the command today solely for its secondary purpose of reading short files.
[...]
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.