stdin redirection (<) in Linux CLI - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using stdin Redirection (<) in Linux CLI

📖 Scenario: You have a text file with a list of names. You want to use a command that reads from this file as if you typed the names directly into the command.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use stdin redirection (

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a text file named names.txt with specific names.

Use stdin redirection (<) to pass the file content to the cat command.

Display the content of the file using the command with stdin redirection.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Many Linux commands can read input from files using stdin redirection. This helps automate tasks without typing input manually.

💼 Career

Understanding stdin redirection is essential for system administrators, developers, and anyone working with command-line tools to automate workflows.

1

Create the names.txt file

Create a file called names.txt with these exact three lines: Alice, Bob, and Charlie.

Linux CLI

# Use a command to create names.txt with Alice, Bob, and Charlie
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the echo command with -e to add new lines and redirect output to names.txt.

2

Prepare to use stdin redirection

Use the cat command with stdin redirection (<) to read from the file names.txt. Write the command without running it.

Linux CLI

echo -e "Alice\nBob\nCharlie" > names.txt
# Write the command using cat and < to read names.txt
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use cat < names.txt to read the file content through stdin redirection.

3

Run the command with stdin redirection

Run the command cat < names.txt to display the content of names.txt using stdin redirection.

Linux CLI

echo -e "Alice\nBob\nCharlie" > names.txt
cat < names.txt
# Run the command above to see the output
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Just run the command cat < names.txt and observe the output.

4

Confirm understanding by printing a message

Print the message File content displayed using stdin redirection after showing the file content.

Linux CLI

echo -e "Alice\nBob\nCharlie" > names.txt
cat < names.txt
# Print the confirmation message below
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use printf or echo to print the message after the file content.