file_operations

File operations

Use shell commands for file and directory work.

Create

Single line:

echo "content" > /path/to/file.txt

Here-doc:

cat > /path/to/file.txt << 'EOF'
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
EOF

Empty file:

touch /path/to/file.txt

Read

Whole file:

cat /path/to/file.txt

First N lines:

head -n 10 /path/to/file.txt

Last N lines:

tail -n 10 /path/to/file.txt

Write / append

Overwrite:

echo "new content" > /path/to/file.txt

Append:

echo "more content" >> /path/to/file.txt

Directories

Create:

mkdir -p /path/to/new/directory

List:

ls -la /path/to/directory

Copy / move / delete

Copy file:

cp /source/file.txt /destination/file.txt

Copy tree:

cp -r /source/dir /destination/dir

Move or rename:

mv /old/path/file.txt /new/path/file.txt

Delete file:

rm /path/to/file.txt

Delete directory:

rm -r /path/to/directory

Find

By name:

find /search/path -name "*.txt" -maxdepth 3

By content:

grep -r "search text" /search/path --include="*.txt"

Rules

1. Use absolute paths or paths relative to the working directory.
2. After creating files, verify with ls -la.
3. Use mkdir -p for nested directories.
4. Before deleting, confirm with the user what will be removed.
5. Use cat for small files; head/tail for large ones.
6. Prefer cat << 'EOF' (single-quoted EOF) to avoid accidental variable expansion.