You can create a text file on your computer with a text editor. An example of a text editor is Notepad, which is included with Microsoft Windows.
You can see CMD with the username for me it is. C: Users Asus > From here you can figured out the current User for this session login was Asus. Now you know the current User and the Location. C: Users Asus > echo. > C: Users Asus Desktop emptyfile.txt This will successfully create a empty text file with the name emptyfile. This wikiHow teaches you how to use the Terminal app in Linux to create a text file. After doing so, you can use one of Linux's built-in text editors to make changes to the file.
NoteWhen we refer to a 'text file' we are talking about a plain text file without any text formatting (e.g., bold), images, different fonts, font sizes, etc. If you need to create a more rich document with any of these features see how to create a document.
TipThe below recommendations are for programs included with an operating system. You can also download and install a more powerful and free text editor such as Notepad++ to create, view, and edit text files.
- Open and use Notepad.
- Save the file as a text file.
- Create a new text file from the desktop.
- Create a text file from the Windows command line.
- Create a text file from within a Linux shell.
Open and use Notepad
The easiest way to create a text file in Windows is to open up the Notepad software program on your computer. The Notepad is a text editor included with Microsoft Windows.
Tip:A text file is considered a plaintext file and Notepad is only capable of creating and editing plaintext files. Notepad saves any text file with a .txt file extension, which means no special formatting or fonts can be used.
The Windows Notepad program can be found by following either of the steps below.
- Click Start.
- In the Run or Search box, type Notepad and press Enter.
Or
- Click Start.
- Open All Programs, Accessories, then click on the Notepad shortcut.
Save the file as a text file
You can also create a text file using any other word processing software program, like Microsoft Word or WordPad. When saving the file, change the file name or file type to Plain Text to save it as a text file. In many of these programs, you'll also have the option to save the file as a Rich Text Format.
After the file is created and saved, it can also be edited using Notepad or another word processing software program.
Create a new text file from the desktop
Another way to create a text file is to right-click on your desktop screen and in the menu that appears, click New and then click Text Document.
Creating a text file this way opens your default text editor with a blank text file on your desktop. You can change the name of the file to anything you want. You can edit the file in the Notepad program or any other word processing software program, like Microsoft Word.
TipThese same steps can be used in any other location on your computer, for example, you could do this in another folder on your computer.
Create a text file from the command line
While in the Windows command line, you also can create a new text file in the current directory. With earlier versions of Windows, a new file of any type, including text files, could be created by using the edit command line command. Later versions of Windows removed the ability to use the edit command for this purpose. Instead, you can use the echo command at the Windows command line to create an empty text file in the current directory. An example of using this shown below.
In the above example, you are using the echo command to create a file named 'myfile.txt' in the current directory. Note that there are no spaces between echo, the period, the greater-than sign (>), and the file name.
Another option for creating a text file from the command line is by using the start command as shown in the example below.
In this example, you are using the start command to open Notepad with the file 'myfile.txt'. Assuming this file does not exist, it would be created and saved in your current directory. If the file did exist, you would be editing that file.
Create a text file from within a Linux shell
There are several commands that can be used to create a text file in a Linuxshell. One easy-to-use text editor is pico. You can use it like this:
After entering the above command, the editor will be opened and allow you to create a text file. When done, press Ctrl+X to exit the file. When prompted to save the file, if you want to keep the file, press 'Y' for yes.
TipThe .txt file extension is not required in Linux. It is a file extension most commonly found and used with Windows. If you do not need the file to open in Windows, you can have no file extension or rename it to whatever you want.
Additional information
- See our text file definition for further information and related links.