How does one read the contents of a text file located on the desktop using the terminal?

Question

My goal is to open and the read the contents of a file that is located on my desktop using only the terminal to do so. My file has a space (" ") in its name, this has become troublesome because, cat seems to try to read 2 different files due to the space.

Solution 1

Cat is a UNIX command that lets you read text files. So, you can just run the command cat ~/Desktop/FILENAMEHERE unless you are root. If you are root, you must type cat /home/*/Desktop/FILENAMEHERE. Also, you should upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04 or 14.10. This isn't Windows. It's not okay to use an older version of Ubuntu like it is when you use Windows. You should ALWAYS (no matter what circumstances) use the latest stable release of Ubuntu (currently 14.10) or the current LTS release (currently 14.04, what I recommend to you).

Solution 2

Open a terminal window. By default, you will be in your home directory.

cd Desktop

ls

cat "filename"

Example

cd Desktop

ls

cat file1.txt

Comments

[Jacob Vlijm]

It's not really clear to me, you want to save your files, but where does reading a text file on the desktop using terminal get on stage?

[Alvar]

Do you want to backup your data? Or open a file from the terminal? Or downgrade to 12.04? or fix your 14.04 version? Because your question is very confusing at the moment....

[Flimm]

There is no Ubuntu 12, only Ubuntu 12.04 or Ubuntu 12.10. Similarly for Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 14.10.

[Kaz Wolfe]

cat /path/to/file/name

[Pastey]

@Jacob Vlijm I've tried my best to clarify my question, FuzzyToothpaste has provided me with almost all the info i need, I'm still stumped by the space in my files name.

[Paul]

Actually, nano is my first choice, but a user completely unfamiliar with cli may find it a little confusing, so I figured if the printing on the screen created a problem, then they would come back and ask about that.

[Pastey]

Is there any command to search the directory for files or how many there are? I'm having trouble remembering the correct file names, they might not even be there.

[John Scott]

Yeah. You use the ls command to list all files in the directory, with the exception of files that start with a period. If you think you might have one that does for whatever reason, run ls -a.

[Pastey]

This is really helpful, ls -a seems to have found each directory under home, even files with periods. How do I view the contents of a specific folder, such as my desktop?

[John Scott]

@Pastey You will need to use the unrelated cd command. It is short for change directory. It lets you enter a folder. Your desktop is just a folder, you typing "cd Desktop" (without quotes) should do. If you get an error, try "cd ~/Desktop". The ~ represents your home directory. Then run ls or ls -a again.

[Pastey]

Almost cracked this nut. My file has a space in its name and cat can't find the file properly with a space (er. file doesn't exist). I've tried a few symbols to represent the space but, I don't wanna edit or delete it by accident.

[John Scott]

That is because space is a special character. If you do "cat your file", it will try to read a file called your and another file called file, which is not what you want. You can either put your filename in quotes like: cat "your file" or you can use a backwards slash () before the space. The slash tells it it's a special character. You then could do: cat your\ file.

[nr5]

What if I want to replace a string in another with the content of "filename"? I figured the replacement with gsed, but not sure how to put "filename" contents in a variable and use them: stackoverflow.com/q/56459572/1364053