Displaying and Editing Files in Windows and PowerShell

Opening Files in Windows GUI

• Double-click to open files in the default application.
• Text Files: Usually open in Notepad, but can be changed.
  • Changing Default Application:
    • Right-click the file.
    • Click Properties.
    • Under Open With, choose another application like WordPad.

Focusing on Text and Configuration Files

• Most files in this course will be text/configuration files.

Viewing File Contents in PowerShell

• cat Command:

  • Stands for concatenate.
  • Dumps entire file content into the shell.
  • Not ideal for large files as it displays everything continuously.

• more Command:

  • Displays file content page by page.
  • Pauses once the terminal window is filled.
  • Interact with more using:
    • Enter key: Advances by one line.
    • Spacebar: Advances by one page (page size = terminal window size).
    • Q key: Quit and return to the shell.

Viewing Specific Parts of a File

• Head of the File:
  • Use cat with -head parameter to display the first ten lines.
• Tail of the File:
  • Displays the last ten lines by default.

Summary

• PowerShell allows flexible file viewing options.
• Different commands offer varied ways to interact with text files, whether viewing entire contents, page-by-page, or specific sections.