---
title: 5 tools for printing files to the terminal #shorts
slug: 5-tools-for-printing-files-to-the-terminal-shorts
published_at: 2021-03-05 02:40:05 +0000
updated_at: 2026-03-04 20:14:25 +0000
summary: 
description: The 5 must know tools for displaying file contents on the terminal:  Cat - it’s generally used to concatenate files together, and it spits out the contents on standard output More - is a filter for paging through text one screenful at a time Less - it’s used for viewing files instead of opening them. It’s like more, but allows for moving backward too. Less is just a little better than more. Head is used to print the first N lines of a file, it accepts N as input and has a default of 10 Tail. It’s used to print the bottom N lines of a file, it also accepts n as input and has a default of 10  Subscribe for more terminal tips!
tags: [printing to a file, how to print file contents on mac, how to print file contents unix, how to print file contents linux, head, cat, tail, more, less, shorts]
views: 465
author: CJ Avilla
url: https://www.cjav.dev/videos/5-tools-for-printing-files-to-the-terminal-shorts
youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqzJ_tmktt0
youtube_id: HqzJ_tmktt0
embed_url: https://www.youtube.com/embed/HqzJ_tmktt0
thumbnail_url: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HqzJ_tmktt0/hqdefault.jpg
type: video
---

# 5 tools for printing files to the terminal #shorts

*Published: March 05, 2021*
*Views: 465*

## Watch

[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqzJ_tmktt0)

[![5 tools for printing files to the terminal #shorts](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HqzJ_tmktt0/hqdefault.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqzJ_tmktt0)

## Description

The 5 must know tools for displaying file contents on the terminal:

Cat - it’s generally used to concatenate files together, and it spits out the contents on standard output
More - is a filter for paging through text one screenful at a time
Less - it’s used for viewing files instead of opening them. It’s like more, but allows for moving backward too. Less is just a little better than more.
Head is used to print the first N lines of a file, it accepts N as input and has a default of 10
Tail. It’s used to print the bottom N lines of a file, it also accepts n as input and has a default of 10

Subscribe for more terminal tips!

## Transcript

what's up friends these are the five must-know tools for displaying file contents on the terminal number one is cat it's generally used to concatenate files together and it spits out the contents on standard output number two is more it's a filter for paging through text one screenful at a time number three is less it's used for viewing files instead of opening them it's just like more but it allows you to move backwards too less is just a little better than more number four is head head is used to print the first n lines of a file it accepts n as an input and has a default of 10 lines number 5 is tail it's used to print the bottom end lines of a file and it also accepts n as an input and also has a default of 10. subscribe for more terminal tips and we'll see in the next one

---

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