Create Delete Copy And Move Files And Directories

General Information

Basic file/directory manipulation.

Create new file “file1”

touch file1

Create three files

touch {file1,file2,file3}

Create new directory

mkdir dir1

Create new directory tree

mkdir -p newdir/dir1/dir2/dir3

• Creates newdir, dir1, dir2, and dir3 in that structure
• -p ⇒ Make parent directories if needed

View directory structure in tree outline

~$ tree
.
├── anaconda-ks.cfg
├── file1
├── newdir
│   └── dir1
│       └── dir2
│           └── dir3
├── newfile
├── otherdir

Rename file or directory

mv dir1 newdir

• Renames “dir1” to “newdir”

Remove empty directory

rmdir dir1

Remove directory recursively

rm -rf dir1

• -r ⇒ recursively
• -f ⇒ force, do not prompt for confirmation

Copy file2 into dir2

cp file2 dir2/

Copy directory dir2 and its contents into newdir

cp -r dir2 /home/newdir/

• -r ⇒ recursively

Move file1 into dir1

mv file1 dir1/