How can echo check file contents?

Actually, that is a common point of confusion for beginners!

Strictly speaking, echo cannot read or check the contents of an existing file. Its job is only to "output" what you give it.

If you want to see what is inside a file, you should use the cat (short for concatenate) command.

How they differ:

• echo: Used to write or display text you type.
• cat: Used to read or display what is already inside a file.

What echo CAN do with files:

While it can't read them, echo is often used to create files or add text to them using "redirection" symbols:

1. Create/Overwrite a file:

   echo "This is some text" > myfile.txt
   

   (This creates myfile.txt with that text inside.)

2. Append (add to the end) of a file:

   echo "Adding another line" >> myfile.txt
   

To actually check a file's content:

Try this command instead (you'll likely learn this in a later step!):

cat myfile.txt

In summary: echo puts text in; cat takes text out. Keep going with the lab to see more of these tools in action