If you're ever unsure of exactly where you are, remember that you can run the pwd command anytime to show you the folder that you're currently in. īe sure to check that you are creating the file in the 'Art history' directory. In this case, let's create a file called term-paper.txt. If the file not already exist, your system will create that file for you. Tells your system to look for a certain file Touch is a fairly creepy sounding command, but here's what it does: If you use the command cd to move into the 'Art history' directory, you can then use a command called touch to create a file for our end-of-term paper. Let's first work with the art history example. This is much faster than creating the file individually via different applications like Microsoft Excel or a word processor and running 'Save As.' You can create all types of files from the command line itself. 🎨 Maybe the biology class will require research and findings from this semester! This file is likely to be a spreadsheet. For example, a humanities class like art history might require an end of term paper.

As a little exercise in the previous chapter, you also created folders inside the second semester folder for each course (art history, biology, etc).Īs you can imagine, different courses will require different kinds of files inside. In the last chapter, you created a folder structure for school coursework. Maybe the code-based example will even motivate you to take your next steps as a coder! Creating files Non-code example This way, even if you are not a programmer already, you can have an appreciation of why folders and files are useful for programmers as well! We will stick with the format of the last chapter, meaning we will show one example of creating files without code in them and the other with code. Now that you're familiar with creating folders via the command line, It is time to fill those folders with files. Setting up folders is cool, but a folder without any contents is as useful as a box with nothing in it!

Create file on mac terminal