Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide

Creating a File Quickly

You can quickly create an empty file (for later editing) using the touch command, providing a filename that does not exist (see File Properties):

➜ touch newfile

Another quick technique uses the echo command with the -n option, redirecting its output to a new file. This option prevents a newline character from being echoed, making the file truly empty:

➜ echo -n > newfile2

You can also write data into a new file by redirecting the output of a program (see Input/output redirection):

➜ echo anything at all > newfile

If you accidentally provide the name of an existing file, touch will preserve it but redirecting echo will erase its contents. So be careful!