Which of the following command will always create a new file?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

First, let's parse the question: which command will always create a new file?
Option 1: cp abc.txt SUB1
This uses the copy command to create a destination file named SUB1. If SUB1 does not exist, cp creates it by copying the contents of abc.txt into a new file named SUB1. If SUB1 already exists, cp will overwrite it with a copy of abc.txt unless you use options to preserve. Because the key behavior—creating the destination file when it doesn’t exist—happens reliably, this option is a strong candidate for always creating a new file when destination is absent.
Option 2: cat abc.txt
The cat command outputs the contents of abc.txt to standard output. It does not create a new file on disk by itself; unless you redirect the output elsewhere (e.g., cat abc.txt > newfile.txt), it will not create a file. As-is, it does not guarantee creating a file.
Option 3: fileA="New"
This is a shell assignment, not a command that creates a file. It merely assigns the string New to the shell variable fileA in the current environment. It has no effect on the filesystem by itself, so it cannot create a file.
Option 4: vi new.txt
Invoking vi to edit new.txt opens a text editor. It will create the file on disk if you actually write and save changes. However, creation is contingent on performing the write/save operation; simply opening vi does not guarantee that a new file exists yet. Therefore, it is not guaranteed to "always" create a new file in all scenarios.
In comparing these options, the command that reliably creates a new file when the destination does not exist is the copy operation in Option 1, cp abc.txt SUB1. The others either do not create a file by themselves or require additional actions (like redirection or saving in an editor) to produce a new file.

Which of the following command will always create a new file?

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