Module 08

Managing Files and

Directories
Exam Objective
2.4 Creating, Moving, and Deleting Files

Objective Description
Create, move and delete files and directories under the home
directory
Introduction
Introduction
● In this chapter we will discuss how to manipulate files and
directories.

● Some Linux distributions have GUI-based applications that allow you

to manage files, but it is advantageous to know how to perform
these operations via the command line.

● Note that everything in Linux is case sensitive so pay attention to

capitalization:
○ The hello.txt file is different from the HELLO.txt and Hello.txt files.
Globbing
Globbing
● Glob characters are often referred to as wild cards.

● These are symbol characters that have special meaning to the shell.

● Globs are powerful because they allow you to specify patterns that
match filenames in a directory:
○ Instead of manipulating a single file at a time, you can easily execute
commands that will affect many files.
Globbing - The Asterisk *
● The asterisk character is used to represent zero or more of any
character in a filename.

● For example, suppose you want to display all of the files in the
/etc directory that begin with the letter t:
sysadmin@localhost:~$ echo /etc/t*
/etc/terminfo /etc/timezone

● The pattern t* matches any file in the /etc directory that begins
with the character t followed by zero or more of any character.
Globbing - The Question Mark ?
● The question mark character matches exactly one character, no more and no
less.

● Suppose you want to display all of the files in the /etc directory that begin
with the letter t and have exactly 7 characters after the t character:
sysadmin@localhost:~$ echo /etc/t???????
/etc/terminfo /etc/timezone

● The asterisk and question mark could also be used together to look for files
with three-letter extensions by running the echo /etc/*.??? command:
sysadmin@localhost:~$ echo /etc/*.???
/etc/blkid.tab /etc/issue.net
Globbing - Brackets [ ]
● Brackets are used to match a single character by representing a range of
characters that are possible match characters.

● For example, echo /etc/[gu]* will print any file that begins with either
a g or u character and contains zero or more additional characters:
sysadmin@localhost:~$ echo /etc/[gu]*
/etc/gai.conf /etc/groff /etc/group /etc/group- /etc/gshadow /etc/gshadow- /etc/ucf.conf
/etc/udev /etc/ufw /etc/update-motd.d /etc/updatedb.conf

● Brackets can also be used to a represent a range of characters by using the

- character (i.e., any letter between and including a and d):

sysadmin@localhost:~$ echo /etc/[a-d]*

Globbing - Exclamation Point !
● The exclamation point is used in conjunction with the square
brackets to negate a range.

● For example, the command echo /etc/[!a-t]* will display any file
that does not begin with an a thru t:
sysadmin@localhost:~$ echo /etc/[!a-t]*
/etc/ucf.conf /etc/udev /etc/ufw /etc/update-motd.d /etc/updatedb.conf /etc/vim
/etc/wgetrc /etc/xml
Globbing - Listing With Globs

● When the ls command sees a directory as an argument, it will display the

contents of the directory, not just the directory name.

● Use the -d option, which tells the ls command to display the name of
directories, instead of their contents:

sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls -d /etc/e*
/etc/encript.cfg /etc/environment /etc/ethers /etc/event.d /etc/exports
Copying Files and
Directories
Copying Files
● The cp command is used to copy files. It requires a source and a destination.

● The structure of the command is as follows:

cp [source] [destination]

● The source is the file to be copied. The destination is where the copy is to be
located.

● The following command will copy the /etc/hosts file to your home directory:
sysadmin@localhost:~$ cp /etc/hosts ~
sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls
Desktop Downloads Pictures Templates hosts
Documents Music Public Videos
Copying Files - Verbose Mode
● The -v option will cause the cp command to produce output if successful.

● The -v option stands for verbose.

● An example of the -v option used with the cp command:

sysadmin@localhost:~$ cp -v /etc/hosts ~
`/etc/hosts' -> `/home/sysadmin/hosts'

● When the destination is a directory, the resulting new file will have the same
name as the original file.

● If you want the new file to have a different name, you must provide the new
name as part of the destination.
Copying Files - Avoid Overwriting Data
● The cp command can be destructive to existing data if the destination file
already exists.

● With the -i (interactive) option, the cp will prompt before overwriting a file
(y (yes) or n (no)):

sysadmin@localhost:~$ cp -i /etc/hosts ~/example.txt

cp: overwrite `/home/sysadmin/example.txt'? n

● The -i option requires you to answer y or n for every copy which could be
tedious if there are a lot of files.

● If you want to automatically answer n to each prompt, use the -n option. It

essentially stands for "no rewrite”.
Copying Directories
● Using the cp command to copy directories will result in an error message:

sysadmin@localhost:~$ cp -n /etc/skel/.* ~
cp: omitting directory `/etc/skel/.'
cp: omitting directory `/etc/skel/..'

● However, the -r (recursive) option to the cp command will have it copy both
files and directories.

Be careful with this option. The entire directory structure will be copied. This
could result in copying a lot of files and directories!
Moving Files
Moving Files

● To move a file, use the mv command.

● The syntax for the mv command is much like the cp command:

mv [source] [destination]

● When a file is moved, the file is removed from the original location and
placed in a new location.

● Note: If you don't have the right permissions, you will receive a "Permission
denied" error message.
Moving Files - Renaming Files

● The mv command is not just used to move a file, but also to rename a file.

● The name of the file will change only if a destination file name is also
specified.

● If a destination directory is not specified, the file will be renamed using the
destination file name and remain in the source directory.

● For example, the following commands will rename the newexample.txt file
to myexample.txt:
sysadmin@localhost:~/Videos$ mv newexample.txt myexample.txt
Moving Files - Additional mv Options

● Like the cp command, the mv command provides the following

options:
Option Meaning

-i Interactive: Ask if a file is to be overwritten.

-n No Clobber: Do not overwrite a destination files' contents.

-v Verbose: Show the resulting move.

● Important: There is no -r option as the mv command will by

default move directories.
Creating Files and
Directories
Creating Files

● To create an empty file, use the touch command as demonstrated

below:
sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates
Videos
sysadmin@localhost:~$ touch sample
sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls -l sample
-rw-rw-r-- 1 sysadmin sysadmin 0 Nov 9 16:48 sample
sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls
Desktop Downloads Pictures Templates sample
Documents Music Public Videos
Making Directories

● To create a directory, use the mkdir command:

sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates
sample.txt
sysadmin@localhost:~$ mkdir test
sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls
Desktop Downloads Pictures Templates test
Documents Music Public sample.txt
Removing Files and
Directories
Deleting Files

● To delete a file, use the rm command:

sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls
Desktop Downloads Pictures Templates sample
Documents Music Public Videos
sysadmin@localhost:~$ rm sample
sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls
​
‌
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates
Videos

● Using the rm could cause problems when deleting multiple files by using glob
characters.
● As a precaution, users should use the -i option when deleting multiple files.
Deleting Directories

● The rm command can be used to delete directories. However, the default

usage (no options) of the rm command will fail to delete a directory:
sysadmin@localhost:~$ rm Videos
rm: cannot remove `Videos': Is a directory
sysadmin@localhost:~$

● To delete a directory, use the -r (recursive) option to the rm command:

sysadmin@localhost:~$ rm -r Videos

● Important: When a user deletes a directory, all of the files and

subdirectories are deleted without any interactive question. It is best to use
the -i option with the rm command.