Writing to files (echo, printf) in Bash Scripting - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Writing to files using echo and printf in Bash

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple log file for a small script that tracks daily tasks. You want to write messages to a file to keep a record.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to write text lines to a file using echo and printf commands in Bash scripting.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a text file with initial content using echo

Add a configuration variable for the filename

Use printf to format and append text to the file

Display the final content of the file

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Writing logs or reports to files is common in automation scripts to keep track of actions or errors.

💼 Career

Knowing how to write and append to files is essential for scripting tasks in system administration, DevOps, and automation roles.

1

Create a file with initial content using echo

Use echo to write the exact text "Daily Tasks Log" into a file named tasks.txt. Overwrite the file if it exists.

Bash Scripting

# Use echo to write 'Daily Tasks Log' into tasks.txt
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use echo "text" > filename to write text to a file, replacing any existing content.

2

Add a variable for the filename

Create a variable called file and set it to the string "tasks.txt".

Bash Scripting

echo "Daily Tasks Log" > tasks.txt
# Create a variable called file with value "tasks.txt"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use file="tasks.txt" to assign the filename to a variable.

3

Append formatted text using printf

Use printf to append the exact line "- Task 1: Write script" to the file stored in the variable file. Use the append operator >>.

Bash Scripting

echo "Daily Tasks Log" > tasks.txt
file="tasks.txt"
# Use printf to append '- Task 1: Write script' to the file variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use printf "text\n" >> "$file" to append a line with a newline character.

4

Display the content of the file

Use cat to display the content of the file stored in the variable file.

Bash Scripting

echo "Daily Tasks Log" > tasks.txt
file="tasks.txt"
printf "- Task 1: Write script\n" >> "$file"
# Display the content of the file variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use cat "$file" to show the file content.