cp source
destination
Copy files. E.g., cp /home/stan/existing_file_name . will
copy a file to my current working directory. Use the "-R" option (stands
for "recursive") to copy the contents of whole directory trees, e.g. , cp
-R my_existing_dir/ ~ will copy a subdirectory under my current
working directory to my home directory.
mcopy
source destination
Copy a file from/to a DOS filesystem (no mounting of the DOS filesystem
is necessary). E.g., mcopy a:\autoexec.bat ~/junk. See
man mtools for other commands that can access DOS files
without mounting: mdir, mcd, mren, mmove,
mdel, mmd, mrd, mformat ....
We don't use the mtool commands that often--operations on DOS/MS Windows
files can be performed using regular Linux commands after you mount the
DOS/MS Windows filesystem.
mv source
destination
Move or rename files. The same command is used for moving and renaming
files and directories.
rename
string replacement_string filename
Flexible utility for changing parts of filenames. For example:
rename .htm .html *.htm
ln source
destination
Create a hard link called destination to the file called source.
The link appears as a copy of the original files, but in reality only
one copy of the file is kept, just two (or more) directory entries point
to it. Any changes to the file are automatically visible throughout. When
one directory entry is removed, the other(s) stay(s) intact. The limitation
of the hard links are: the files have to be on the same filesystem, hard
links to directories or special files are impossible.
ln -s
source destination
Create a symbolic (soft) link called "destination" to the file called
"source". The symbolic link just specifies a path where to look for the
"real" file. In contradistinction to hard links, the source and destination
do not have to be on the same filesystem. In comparison to hard links,
the drawback of symbolic links are: if the original file is removed, the
link is "broken"--it points to nowhwere; symbolic links can create circular
references (like circular references in spreadsheets or databases, e.g.,
"a" points to "b" and "b" points back to "a"). In short, symbolic
links are a great tool and are very often used (more often than hard links),
but they can create an extra level of complexity.
rm files
Remove (delete) files. You must own the file in order to be able to remove
it (or be "root"). On many systems, you will be asked for a confirmation
of deletion; if you don't want this, use the "-f" (=force) option, e.g.,
rm -f * will remove all files in my current working directory,
no questions asked.
mkdir
directory
Make a new directory.
rmdir
directory
Remove an empty directory.
rm -r
files
(recursive remove) Remove files, directories, and their subdirectories.
Careful with this command as root--you can easily remove all files on
the system with such a command executed on the top of your directory tree,
and there is no undelete in Linux (yet). But if you really wanted to do
it (reconsider), here is how (as root):
rm -rf /*
rm -rf
files
(recursive force remove). As above, but skip the prompt for confirmation,
if one is set on your system. Careful with this command particularly as
root--see the command above.
mc
Launch the "Midnight Commander" file manager (looks like "Norton Commander"
for Linux). According to some computer dinosaurs, this is the best file
manager ever.
konqueror
&
(in X terminal) Launch the KDE file manager. Perhaps this is the utltimate
for file managment. Much better that the MS "Windows Explorer".
It embeds web browsing, pdf viewing, and more. Really cool.
xwc
(in X terminal). Another excellent file manager (called "X Win Commander").
Faster than konqueror, but not as loaded with features.
nautilus
&
(in X terminal). A really cool file manager. Slower than konqueror, but
offers me goodies like icon-preview of the content of files (!). It even
"previews" the contents of sound files! Speedwise, it runs great on my
1.33 GHz computer, but I don't use it on my 133MHz computer.
Next > 5.6 Viewing and
editing files
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