GNU/Linux Command-Line Tools Summary

   GNU/Linux Command-Line Tools Summary
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7.2. Working with files and folders

• mkdir
   

Make a directory. Use mkdir -p to create subdirectories automatically.


       Directories are Folders
        

Directories are sometimes called folders in other operating systems (such as Microsoft Windows)

Examples:


   

mkdir -p /home/matt/work/maths

This would create the directories "work" and "maths" under matt's home directory (if matt's home directory didn't exist it would create that too).


   

mkdir foo

This would create a directory in the current path named "foo".



• rm
   

Remove/delete a file(s) or directories(s). You can use standard wildcards with this command Section 20.4.1 .

Command syntax:


   

rm -options file_or_folder

You can of course use standard wildcards to delete multiple files or multiple directories and files.

Use the -R or -r option to remove recursively, this removes everything within subdirectories. Also try the -f option to force removal (useful when you don't want to be prompted).


       Disabling Aliases (per execution)
        

On some systems such as Mandrake an alias will send rm to rm -i (prompting you for every file you wish to delete). To override this use: \rm -R directory (using the \ disables the alias for this run only)



• rmdir
   

Remove an empty directory. If you want to remove a directory with files in it type " rm -R directory", read above for information on rm -R

Command syntax:


   

rmdir directory

This will only remove directory if it's empty otherwise it will exit with an error message.



• mv
   

Move a file or a directory to a new location or rename a file/directory.

Rename example:


   

mv filename1 filename2

Renames filename1 to filename2.

To move a file or directory, simply type:


   

mv original_file_or_folder new_location

Note that this command can use standard wildcards Section 20.4.1 to move files (not for renaming).


       Move and rename
        

Note that you can also move and rename a file in a single command. The difference is with the destination (right hand side) you change the filename to the new name of the file.

For example typing:


   

mv /etc/configuration.txt /home/joe/backupconfig

This would move the file "configuration.txt" to /home/joe/ and rename it "backupconfig"



• cp
   

Copy a file. Has a number of useful options, such as -R (or -r ) which recursively copies directories and subdirectories.

Command syntax:


   

cp -options file_or_files new_location

Examples:


   

cp file1 file2

Simply copy file1 to file2 (in the same directory).


   

cp /tmp/file1 ~/file2 /mnt/win_c

Where the last option is the directory to be copied to. The above

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