TestOut Linux Pro Practice Test 2025 - Free Linux Pro Practice Questions and Study Guide

The command to view the contents of a file in Linux is 'cat [filename]'. This command is short for "concatenate," and it is one of the most commonly used commands in the Linux environment for displaying the contents of a file directly on the terminal screen. When you execute this command, the terminal will output the entire content of the specified file, making it easy to read text files and scripts quickly.

In addition to basic viewing, the 'cat' command can also be used to combine multiple files into one or to create new files. For example, `cat file1.txt file2.txt` will display the contents of both files in sequence.

Other commands intended for viewing file contents, like 'view', are often associated with specific text editors and might not be universally available on all systems. The use of 'show' and 'open' do not align with standard Linux commands for displaying file content, so they would not produce the desired effect. Therefore, 'cat [filename]' is the proper choice for viewing the contents of a file in Linux.