Stencel AcademyHow Linux Works →
Part 1 · Lesson 2 · Beginner

Reading & Writing

See where text goes when you read and write.

In this interactive Linux lesson from Stencel Academy you don't just read — you type real commands like cat notes.txt, echo hi > notes.txt, echo more >> notes.txt and watch the machine respond on a live, animated map. It is part of the free How Linux Works course.

Key takeaway: Reading streams a file in; > replaces its contents, >> appends to them.

Before this lesson

Builds on: The Filesystem Tree.

What you'll practise

Terms you'll learn

stdoutstdinredirection (>)append (>>)stream

Check your understanding

What does `>` do?
Open the interactive lesson →