linux shell: emptying a file

[zimu]

right now i do

rm -f filename.txt
touch filename.txt

is there some easier command that essentially "nullifies" a file?

 

[n0cmonkey]

cat /dev/null > file

 

[Nothinman]

Or just '> file' and skip the cat invocation.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Or just '> file' and skip the cat invocation.

Teh Winnar!

That is the quickest and easiest way to do it.

It works because the ">" stands for "redirect your input to whatevers to whatever medium is to the right of the >. Because there is a single > vs a double >>, it will overwrite the file starting at the top."

There is nothing before the >.
This means you are effectivly overwriting the file with 0 bytes, a la nothing.