Computer systems are mostly used for editing, manipulating, or managing data. On Linux systems, this data is very often in the form of text files. In general, everything in Linux is a file, and having a solid understanding of working with text files is important. All important information in Linux is stored in text format files.

In this chapter, our objective is to learn how to work with text files on the command line, using the most popular default text-based editor, vi, and other text file manipulation utilities. Then, we will learn how input/output redirection is executed in files and programs for further processing.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Different methods to create a text file
• Editing files with the vi editor
• Using text file manipulation tools
• Redirecting output to files and programs
• Using grep for text matching
• Finding a file using the locate and find command