Project $3-4$

ESTIMATED TIME: $20$ minutes

OBJECTIVE: View the contents of text files.

DESCRIPTION: In this hands$-$on project, you display file contents using the cat, tac, head, tail, strings, and od commands.

$1$

Switch to a command$-$line terminal $($tty$5)$ by pressing Ctrl$+$Alt$+$F$5,$ and then log in to the terminal using the user name of root and the password of LINUXrocks!.

$2$

At the command prompt, type cat $/$etc$/$hosts and press Enter to view the contents of the file hosts, which reside in the directory $/$etc$.$ Next, type cat $$n $/$etc$/$hosts and press Enter. How many lines does the file have? At the command prompt, type tac $/$etc$/$hosts and press Enter to view the same file in reverse order.

$3$

To see the contents of the same file in octal format instead of ASCII text, type od $/$etc$/$hosts at the command prompt and press Enter.

$4$

At the command prompt, type cat $/$etc$/$services and press Enter.

$5$

At the command prompt, type head $/$etc$/$services and press Enter. How many lines are displayed, and why?

$6$

At the command prompt, type head $-5/$etc$/$services and press Enter. How many lines are displayed and why? Next, type head $-3/$etc$/$services and press Enter. How many lines are displayed and why?

$7$

At the command prompt, type tail $/$etc$/$services and press Enter. What is displayed on the screen? How many lines are displayed and why?

$8$

At the command prompt, type tail $-5/$etc$/$services and press Enter. How many lines are displayed and why? Type the cat $$n $/$etc$/$services command at a command prompt and press Enter to justify your answer.

$9$

At the command prompt, type file $/$bin$/$nice and press Enter. What type of file is it$?$ Should you use a text tool command on this file?

$10$

At the command prompt, type strings $/$bin$/$nice and press Enter. Notice that you can see some text within this binary file. Next, type strings $/$bin$/$nice $|$ less to view the same content page$-$by$-$page. When finished, press q to quit the less command.

$11$

Type exit and press Enter to log out of your shell.