"cat" is one of the most popular linux commands. It is used to
display a file in the terminal. However when using "cat" to read
a big file, it will display the whole file in the terminal so
you will have to scroll up a huge wall of text to read the file.
The "less" command is somewhat similar to "cat", it is also used
to read a file but "less" displays only a part of the file
instead of the whole file. To read files with "less", you just
need to scroll up and down. The real advantage of "less" is that
it doesnt read the entire file so with very huge files, "less"
will start faster than "cat" or any text editor like vi. The
usage of "less" is simple like this: "less" displays the
beginning part of the file only, to scroll up and down, you can
use the keys "j" and "k" or the arrow keys, you can use the
"enter" key to scroll down as well. Here are some tips you can
use with "less": - Display line numbers To display line numbers
before each line, the command is: less -N filename - Open
multiple files You can open