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Is it possible to edit an existing text file using only one line of command and Nano. For instance if I have a text file called "new.txt" and I want to write "HELLO WORLD" in it. Can I do like this:

nano new.txt "something that will make it to write in that file "HELLO WORLD"

That is, can I write in a file using Nano without explicitly opening it in Nano. Yet only add something after the command nano (like -w for write) and the file name in the terminal.

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    Do you want to append a line to the file? If yes, then you don't need nano at all and I'm happy to provide an answer. Or do you want to create a completely new file? Please edit your question to include that information.
    – gertvdijk
    Jan 16, 2014 at 15:21
  • @gertvdijk: Yes I would add at into an existing file that is append it.
    – Nick
    Jan 16, 2014 at 15:33

2 Answers 2

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Just use >> in your shell. This is a way of output redirection that will append to a file. In order to create the output, use the simple echo. E.g.

echo "Hello world." >> /path/to/file.txt

Alternatively, to create a new file (or to overwrite an existing one), use a single >, e.g.:

echo "Hello world." > /path/to/new/file.txt

One can use any command that create output to redirect it to a file like this. echo is just an example that outputs the argument(s) to stdout.

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Try this,

cd /path/to/the/directory/where/filename.txt/is/located
echo "Hello World" >> filename.txt

>> - append lines to an existing file.If no such file was present then it automatically creates a new one.
> - overwrites an existing file or create a new one and writes standard output.

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  • to append a line you don't need nano like @gertvdijk said. Jan 16, 2014 at 15:26

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