Suppose that I have a file called temp.txt. Using the cat program, I would like to add the contents of this file to the end of myfile.txt -- creating myfile.txt if it does not exist and appending to it if it does.
I am considering these possibilities:
cat temp.txt > myfile.txt
or
cat temp.txt >> myfile.txt
Both commands appear to work as I want. So, my question is, what is the difference between > and >>? Thanks for your time.
> writes to a file, overwriting any existing contents. >> appends to a file.
From man bash:
Redirecting Output
Redirection of output causes the file whose name results from the expansion of word to be opened for writing on file descriptor n, or the standard output (file descriptor 1) if n is not specified. If the file does not exist it is created; if it does exist it is truncated to zero size.
The general format for redirecting output is:
[n]>wordIf the redirection operator is >, and the noclobber option to the set builtin has been enabled, the redirection will fail if the file whose name results from the expansion of word exists and is a regular file. If the redirection operator is >|, or the redirection operator is > and the noclobber option to the set builtin command is not enabled, the redirection is attempted even if the file named by word exists.
Appending Redirected Output
Redirection of output in this fashion causes the file whose name results from the expansion of word to be opened for appending on file descriptor n, or the standard output (file descriptor 1) if n is not specified. If the file does not exist it is created.
The general format for appending output is:
[n]>>word
