4.5.
Manipulating Files in Your Current Working Directory
Below is a summary of basic shell commands:
| Action |
Command |
Format |
Details |
| Copy a file |
cp |
cp
filename destination |
Copies the file filename
to the location destination. |
| List Directory
Contents |
ls |
ls |
The ls command lists files in the current working
directory. |
| Move a file |
mv |
mv
which_file destination |
To move a file from one
directory to another, use mv. |
| Rename a file |
mv |
mv
oldname newname |
The use of the mv command changes the name of the file from
oldname to newname. |
Table 4-2. Commands for Manipulating Files
Each of the commands listed above have options that may be
specified on the command line. More information about each is
provided below.
4.5.1. Viewing
Directory Contents with ls
To see what is in your current working directory, use the
ls command.
Many options are available with the ls
command. The ls command, by itself, does
not show all of the files in the directory. Some files are hidden
files (also called dot files) and can only be seen with an
additional option specified to the ls
command.
 |
Tip |
| |
To view all ls command options, read
the man page by entering man ls at a shell
prompt. To print the man page, enter man ls |
col -b | lpr at the prompt.
|
Enter the command ls -a. Now you an
view the hidden "dot" files.
Viewing all the files using the ls -a
command can give you plenty of detail, but you can view still more
information by using multiple options.
To see the size of a file or directory, when it was created, and
so on, add the long option (-l) to the ls -a command.
This command shows the file creation date, its size, ownership,
permissions, and more.
You do not have to be in the directory whose contents you want
to view to use the ls command. For
example, to see what is in the /etc/
directory from your home directory, type:
The following is a brief list of options commonly used with
ls. Remember, you can view the full list
by reading the ls man page (man ls).
-
-a (all) — Lists all files in the
directory, including hidden files (.filename). The .. and
. at the top of your list refer to the
parent directory and the current directory, respectively.
-
-l (long) — Lists details about
contents, including permissions (modes), owner, group, size,
creation date, whether the file is a link to somewhere else on the
system and where its link points.
-
-F (file type) — Adds a symbol to
the end of each listing. These symbols include /, to indicate a directory; @, to indicate a symbolic link to another
file; and *, to indicate an
executable file.
-
-r (reverse) — Lists the contents
of the directory in reverse sort order.
-
-R (recursive) — Lists the
contents of all directories below the current directory
recursively.
-
-S (size) — Sorts files by their
sizes.
The ls command can also be used with
wildcards to display information on files or directories that match
a certain pattern. To list all files and directories that begin
with the letter "a", enter the following command.
Remember that Linux is case-sensitive. The above command will
not display information on files that start with "A".
4.5.2. Copying
files with cp
To create a copy of an existing file, use the cp command.
While cp does have options, they are not used as often as those
of other commands. To view these options, read the man page by
entering man cp at a shellprompt.
To copy a file within the current directorym specify the new
name as the third wod on the command line.
cp original_file new_file
|
This command creates a new file, named new_file, with the same content as the original
file.
To copy a file to a different direcoty, specify a path as the
third word on the command line:
cp original_file /dir1/dir2/
|
This command creates a copy of original_file in dir2/.
If the last part of the path is a filename instead of a directory,
the copy has that new name.
cp original_file /dir1/dir2/new_file
|
This creates a new file named new_file
with the contents of original_file in
dir2/.
Alternatively, if you know where the file is and would like to
place a copy of it in your current directory, enter the path as
word two and "." as the third word.
The above command places a copy of filename in your current working directory.
4.5.3. Moving
files with mv
To move a file or directory from one location to another, use
the command mv.
Common useful options for mv
include:
-
-i (interactive) — Prompts you if
the file you have selected overwrites an existing file in the
destination directory.
-
-f (force) — Overrides the
interactive mode and moves without prompting. Be very careful about
using this option.
-
-v (verbose) — Shows the progress
of the files as they are being moved.
To move a file from the current directory to another location,
enter a path as the third word on the command line.
This command would remove filename
from the current working directory and place it in /dir1/.
Alternatively, a path to the location of the file may be entered
as the second word and "." as the thrid word. This moves the file
from the location specified in word two into your current working
directory.
The above command moves the file filename from the /tmp/
directory into your current working directory.
Finally, both words two and three may be paths.
mv ../../filename /tmp/new_name
|
The command above moves the file filename from a directory two levels up to the
/tmp/ directory while renaming the file
new_name.
 |
Note |
| |
You can only move files to a directory that already exists:
Linux will not create a new directory with the mv command.
|
4.5.4.
Renaming files with mv
To rename a file or directory, use the mv command.
To rename a file with mv, the third
word on the command line must end in the new filename.
mv original_name new_name
|
The above command renames the file original_name to new_name.
mv ../original_name new_name
|
The above command moves the file original_name from one directory up to the current
directory and renames it new_name.
mv original_name /dir1/dir2/dir3/new_name
|
The above command moves the file original_name from the current working directory to
directory dir3/ and renames it new_name.
4.5.5. Delete
files with rm
 |
Caution |
| |
Deleting a file with rmis permanent
— you cannot un-delete it.
|
To delete a file using rm enter the
following at a shell prompt:
The second word can also be a path, but must end in a file.
There are many options to rm. To view
them all, enter man rm at the shell
prompt.
-
-i (interactive) — Prompts you to
confirm the deletion. This option can stop you from deleting a file
by mistake.
-
-f (force) — Overrides
interactive mode and removes the file(s) without prompting. This
might not be a good idea, unless you know exactly what you are
doing.
-
-v (verbose) — Shows the progress
of the files as they are being removed.
-
-r (recursive) — Deletes a
directory and all files and subdirectories it contains.
|
Tip |
| |
The interactive, or -i, option for rm causes it to ask if you
are sure before permanently deleting a file or directory. You can
make this the default behavior for rm by editing the .bashrc file. This file is located in your home
directory. You can edit the file with any text editor.
gedit /home/user/.bashrc
Add the following line somewhere in the file. The end of the
file is a good location.
Save the file. At the command line, enter the following
command.
Now you will be asked to enter [Y]
before deleting a file or directory with rm
|
4.5.6.
Deleting directories
There are two commands that can be used to delete directories.
The first is rmdir and the second is
rm.
The rmdir command will only delete
directories that are empty. If you are concerned about accidentally
deleting a directory that is not empty, use this command.
The above command permanently deletes directory/ if it is empty.
If you want to delete a directory and all of its contents, use
the command rm -rf. Note that if you enter
rm -rf, the shell will not ask if you are
sure before permanently deleting the directory.
The above command deletes /dir1/ and
every file and sub-directory that exists inside.
