DevOps Day 4 - My Bashful Adventure with File Handling & Redirection

Today marks Day 4 of my 100-day DevOps journey, and it was all about Bash—especially file handling and redirection.

Why File Handling Matters

File handling is a foundational skill for anyone using the command line. Before advanced tools can make a difference, it's important to understand how to work with files and control the way your commands interact with them.

What I Explored

Input/Output Redirection:

• > overwrites a file with new output.

• >> appends new output to the end of a file.

• < takes input from a file.

• | pipes output from one command into another.

• tee saves a copy of the output to a file while still displaying it on the screen.

File Viewing Tools:

• cat: Displays the entire file.

• more and less: Scroll through content, useful for longer files.

• head: Shows the top few lines.

• tail: Shows the last few lines.

What I Practiced

• Used echo and redirection to create and update files:

    bashecho "Hello DevOps!" > greeting.txt
    echo "Today is Day 4 of my journey." >> greeting.txt
    cat greeting.txt
  

• Ran:

    bashls -l | tee file_list.txt
  

  This command both displayed the file list and saved it—a very practical trick.

Reflections

Today, I realized that the Linux shell is more than a tool; it's a way of communicating with your computer. Learning to manage files and redirect outputs is empowering and gives a new level of control.

Now, I can:

• Create and manage logs easily.

• View file content quickly.

• Redirect and manage command output for better automation.

Key Takeaways

• > and >> help control how outputs are saved.

• tee is useful for viewing and storing command outputs at the same time.

• Mastering redirection opens up possibilities for automation and efficiency.

By the end of Day 4, I had created and managed several files, tried new commands, and built a stronger connection with my system. The journey continues!

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