Timeline for Most efficient method to empty the contents of a file

10 events

when toggle format	what		by	license	comment
Dec 12, 2018 at 15:33	comment	added	Mirko Steiner		Bash and sh seems to like `> myfile` but e.g. csh errors with: Invalid null command.
Dec 5, 2018 at 16:19	comment	added	CS Pei		sometimes, `> filename` won't work. for example, in zsh. but `: > filename` works still.
Dec 3, 2018 at 11:12	comment	added	terdon♦		Why would you do that? `> file` is enough to truncate a file. You don't need any command, just the redirection operator.
Dec 3, 2018 at 10:25	review	Low quality posts
Dec 3, 2018 at 11:15
Dec 3, 2018 at 10:15	review	Late answers
Dec 3, 2018 at 10:24
Dec 3, 2018 at 10:12	history	edited	Mirko Steiner	CC BY-SA 4.0	added 38 characters in body
Dec 3, 2018 at 10:10	comment	added	Mirko Steiner		Yes, and you redirect this with `>` in to the file, which creates the file if it does not exists, and if it exists you truncate it to zero. Better said: you use the `:` to do nothing, and use `>` to redirect nothing to a file, and truncate it.
Dec 3, 2018 at 10:06	comment	added	Haxiel		`man bash` describes the `:` shell builtin as having no effect.
Dec 3, 2018 at 10:05	history	edited	Mirko Steiner	CC BY-SA 4.0	added 2 characters in body
Dec 3, 2018 at 9:59	history	answered	Mirko Steiner	CC BY-SA 4.0