How to Create and Edit Text Files with Terminal on Linux

In this article, wikiHow will show you how to use the Terminal software on Linux to create text files. After creating the file, you can use the pre-installed editing software on Linux to edit the text.

Table of Contents

Open Terminal

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Open Terminal. To open the software, click on the Menu (Menu) and then find the Terminal software, which looks almost like a blackboard with a white “>_” symbol and click on it. You usually find Terminal in the left sidebar of the Menu window.

You can click on the search bar at the top of the Menu window and type terminal to find Terminal.

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Type ls into Terminal, then press ↵ Enter . Terminal will open the main directory, but the ls command will display all directories in the current directory. To create a text file in one of those categories, you need to change the current category.

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Find the category you want to create a text file for. Any category name listed below the ls command (e.g. “Desktop”) is a navigable place.

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Enter cd directory . You replace “directory” with the name of the directory you want to create the file. This command will switch Terminal’s focus from the current directory to the one you name.

For example, you enter the command cd Desktop to switch the location of Terminal’s command execution to the Desktop directory.
If you want to create a text file in a separate folder under the selected category, simply add a “/” after the category name and then type the folder name. For example, for the “Misc” folder in the Documents directory, you would type cd Documents/Misc .

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Press ↵ Enter . This is a command execution that switches the Terminal’s target from the main category to the one you specify.

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Decide on editing software. You can create simple text files quickly, or use Vim or Emacs for advanced file creation and editing. You have accessed the directory you want to create a text file, now proceed to create the file.

Create a Quick Text File

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Type cat > tên tệp.txt into Terminal. You replace “filename” with the name you want to give the file (for example “report”).

For example, when creating the file “kitty”, you enter the command cat > kitty.txt .

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Press ↵ Enter . This is the operation to create a new text file with the name just given in the current directory. The cursor will appear on a blank line in Terminal.

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Enter text. You type text as you do with other documents. To save the line of text just typed and move to the next line, press ↵ Enter .

If the directory containing the text file is open, simply double-click the text file when it appears to perform this step.

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Press Ctrl + Z . This is the command key to save the text and return to the command line in Terminal, allowing you to continue typing commands. ^{[1] X Research Source}

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Type ls -l tên tệp.txt into Terminal. You replace “filename” with the name you intend to give the text file. This statement will locate the file to make sure it’s created in the category you choose. ^{[2] X Research Source}

For example, to open the file “textfile”, you enter the command ls -l textfile.txt .
The letter in this statement is a lowercase “L”, not a capital “i”.

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Press ↵ Enter . This displays the time, date, and filename on the next line, indicating that the file was created and saved in the selected directory.

Using Vim

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Enter vi tên tệp.txt into Terminal. The “vi” part of this statement is for choosing to use the Vim text editing software. You’ll replace “filename” with the text file name you want to assign to the new file.

For example, with the file “tamins”, you enter the command vi tamins.txt .
If the current directory has a file with the same name, this command will open that file.

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Press ↵ Enter . This is to create a new file and open it in Vim software. You should see an empty Terminal window, with a tilde (~) on each line, and a filename at the bottom of the window.

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Press the i key. This is to put the document into “Insert” mode so you can edit the text as needed.

You should see — INSERT — appear at the bottom of the window when you press the I key.

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Enter text. You type text as you do with other documents. To save the line of text just typed and move on to the next line, just press ↵ Enter .

Using Emacs

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Type emacs tên tệp.txt into Terminal. You replace “filename” with the name you intend to give the text file.

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Press ↵ Enter . As long as the filename doesn’t match an existing text file in the current directory, this command will open a new text file in the Emacs editing software.

For example, a file named “newfile” would have to enter the command emacs newfile.txt .
If you enter an already existing filename, this command will open the file.

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Learn Emacs commands. Emacs has tons of powerful commands that allow you to navigate documents, look up related or support information, manipulate text, and understand code. These commands are divided into 2 types: Control commands and Meta commands.

The Control Command has the form: C-<letter>. To execute a Control command, you hold down the Ctrl key and press the specified letter key (eg, Ctrl and A ).
The Meta command (or Exit ) has the form: M-<letter> or ESC <letter>. The “M” refers to the Alt key or the Esc key on computers, because not all computers have an Alt key.
The command is written like this Shift b (or Ma b ) requires you to hold down Ctrl (or Alt or Esc ) while pressing the first key (for example a ), release both keys and then immediately press the second key (eg key b ).

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Enter text. You can type text as you would with other documents. To save the line of text just typed and move to the next line, press ↵ Enter .

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Press Ctrl + X , then press S . This is a file save operation.

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Press Ctrl + X , then press Ctrl + C . This is to exit the Emacs editing software and return to the directory in Terminal. The text file is saved under the name you just put in this folder.

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Reopen the text file. To open the file, type the emacs command file name.txt into Terminal. As long as you’re in the directory where the file is, this command can open the file in Emacs, so you can continue editing if you want.

Advice

You can access Vim on any version of Linux, while the more detailed Emacs software makes it easy for newcomers to use.
You can open the Emacs “Help” screen by simultaneously pressing Ctrl + H , then releasing both keys and then pressing the T key again. The Help menu will show many additional commands and other functions in the Emacs software, which may come in handy during text input.

Warning

There may be no warning if you forget to save the document before closing, especially in Vim software. Always remember to save the document before closing.

Steps