103.3 Lesson 1

Certificate:

LPIC-1

Version:

5.0

Topic:

103 GNU and Unix Commands

Objective:

103.3 Perform basic file management

Lesson:

1 of 2

Introduction

Everything in Linux is a file, so knowing how to manipulate them is very important. In this lesson, we shall cover basic operations on files.

In general, as a Linux user, you will be called upon to navigate through the file system, copy files from one location to another and delete files. We shall also cover the commands associated with file management.

A file is an entity that stores data and programs. It consists of content and meta data (file size, owner, creation date, permissions). Files are organized in directories. A directory is a file that stores other files.

The different types of files include:

Regular files: which store data and programs.
Directories: which contain other files.
Special files: which are used for input and output.

Of course, other kinds of files exist but are beyond the scope of this lesson. Later, we shall discuss how to identify these different file types.

Manipulating Files

Using `ls` to List Files

The ls command is one of the most important command line tools you should learn in order to navigate the file system.

In its basic form, ls will list file and directory names only:

$ ls
Desktop Downloads   emp_salary  file1   Music   Public  Videos
Documents   emp_name    examples.desktop    file2   Pictures    Templates

When used with -l , referred to as “long listing” format, it shows file or directory permissions, owner, size, modified date, time and name:

$ ls -l
total 60
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4096    Apr 1   2018    Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4096    Apr 1   2018    Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4096    Apr 1   2018    Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     21    Sep 7   12:59   emp_name
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     20    Sep 7   13:03   emp_salary
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank   8980    Apr 1   2018    examples.desktop
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     10    Sep 1   2018    file1
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     10    Sep 1   2018    file2
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4096    Apr 1   2018    Music
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4096    Apr 1   2018    Pictures
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4096    Apr 1   2018    Public
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4096    Apr 1   2018    Templates
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4096    Apr 1   2018    Videos

The first character in the output indicates the file type:

-: for a regular file.
d: for a directory.
c: for a special file.

To show the file sizes in a human readable format add the option -h:

$ ls -lh
total 60K
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     21    Sep 7   12:59   emp_name
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     20    Sep 7   13:03   emp_salary
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank   8.8K    Apr 1   2018    examples.desktop
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     10    Sep 1   2018    file1
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     10    Sep 1   2018    file2
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Music
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Pictures
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Public
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Templates
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Videos

To list all files including hidden files (those starting with .) use the option -a:

$ ls -a
.               .dbus   file1   .profile
..              Desktop file2   Public
.bash_history   .dmrc  .gconf  .sudo_as_admin_successful

Configuration files such as .bash_history which are by default hidden are now visible.

In general, the ls command syntax is given by:

ls OPTIONS FILE

Where OPTIONS are any of the options shown previously (to view all the possible options run man ls), and FILE is the name of the file or directory’s details you wish to list.

Note	When `FILE` is not specified, the current directory is implied.

Creating, Copying, Moving and Deleting Files

Creating files with `touch`

The touch command is the easiest way to create new, empty files. You can also use it to change the timestamps (i.e., modification time) of existing files and directories. The syntax for using touch is:

touch OPTIONS FILE_NAME(S)

Without any options, touch would create new files for any file names that are supplied as arguments, provided that files with such names do not already exist. touch can create any number of files simultaneously:

$ touch file1 file2 file3

This would create three new empty files named file1, file2 and file3.

Several touch options are specifically designed to allow the user to change the timestamps for files. For example, the -a option changes only the access time, while the -m option changes only the modification time. The use of both options together changes the access and also the modification times to the current time:

$ touch -am file3

Copying Files with `cp`

As a Linux user, you will often copy files from one location to another. Whether it is moving a music file from one directory to another or a system file, use cp for all copy tasks:

$ cp file1 dir2

This command can be literally interpreted as copy file1 into directory dir2. The result is the presence of file1 inside dir2. For this command to be executed successfully file1 should be existent in the user’s current directory. Otherwise, the system reports an error with the message No such file or directory.

$ cp dir1/file1 dir2

In this case, observe that the path to file1 is more explicit. The source path can be expressed either as a relative or absolute path. Relative paths are given in reference to a specific directory, while absolute paths are not given with a reference. Below we shall further clarify this notion.

For the moment, just observe that this command copies file1 into the directory dir2. The path to file1 is given with more detail since the user is currently not located in dir1.

$ cp /home/frank/Documents/file2 /home/frank/Documents/Backup

In this third case, file2 located at /home/frank/Documents is copied into the directory /home/frank/Documents/Backup. The source path provided here is absolute. In the two examples above, the source paths are relative. When a path starts with the character / it is an absolute path, otherwise it is a relative path.

The general syntax for cp is:

cp OPTIONS SOURCE DESTINATION

SOURCE is the file to copy and DESTINATION the directory into which the file would be copied. SOURCE and DESTINATION can be specified either as absolute or relative paths.

Moving Files with `mv`

Just like cp for copying, Linux provides a command for moving and renaming files. It is called mv.

The move operation is analogue to the cut and paste operation you generally perform through a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

If you wish to move a file into a new location, use mv in the following way:

mv FILENAME DESTINATION_DIRECTORY

Here is an example:

$ mv myfile.txt /home/frank/Documents

The result is that myfile.txt is moved into destination /home/frank/Documents.

To rename a file, mv is used in the following way:

$ mv old_file_name new_file_name

This changes the name of the file from old_file_name to new_file_name.

By default, mv would not seek your confirmation (technically said “would not prompt”) if you wish to overwrite (rename) an existing file. However, you can allow the system to prompt, by using the option -i:

$ mv -i old_file_name new_file_name
mv: overwrite 'new_file_name'?

This command would ask the user’s permission before overwriting old_file_name to new_file_name.

Conversely, using the -f:

$ mv -f old_file_name new_file_name

would forcefully overwrite the file, without asking any permission.

Deleting Files with `rm`

rm is used to delete files. Think of it as an abbreviated form of the word “remove”. Note that the action of removing a file is usually irreversible thus this command should be used with caution.

$ rm file1

This command would delete file1.

$ rm -i file1
rm: remove regular file 'file1'?

This command would request the user for confirmation before deleting file1. Remember, we saw the -i option when using mv above.

$ rm -f file1

This command forcefully deletes file1 without seeking your confirmation.

Multiple files can be deleted at the same time:

$ rm file1 file2 file3

In this example file1, file2 and file3 are deleted simultaneously.

The syntax for rm is generally given by:

rm OPTIONS FILE

Creating and Deleting Directories

Creating Directories with `mkdir`

Creating directories is critical to organizing your files and folders. Files may be grouped together in a logical way by keeping them inside a directory. To create a directory, use mkdir:

mkdir OPTIONS DIRECTORY_NAME

where DIRECTORY_NAME is the name of the directory to be created. Any number of directories can be created simultaneously:

$ mkdir dir1

would create the directory dir1 in the user’s current directory.

$ mkdir dir1 dir2 dir3

The preceding command would create three directories dir1, dir2 and dir3 at the same time.

To create a directory together with its subdirectories use the option -p (“parents”):

$ mkdir -p parents/children

This command would create the directory structure parents/children, i.e. it would create the directories parents and children. children would be located inside parents.

Removing Directories with `rmdir`

rmdir deletes a directory if it is empty. Its syntax is given by:

rmdir OPTIONS DIRECTORY

where DIRECTORY could be a single argument or a list of arguments.

$ rmdir dir1

This command would delete dir1.

$ rmdir dir1 dir2

This command would simultaneously delete dir1 and dir2.

You may remove a directory with its subdirectory:

$ rmdir -p parents/children

This would remove the directory structure parents/children. Note that if any of the directories are not empty, they will not be deleted.

Recursive Manipulation of Files and Directories

To manipulate a directory and its contents, you need to apply recursion. Recursion means, do an action and repeat that action all down the directory tree. In Linux, the options -r or -R or --recursive are generally associated with recursion.

The following scenario would help you better understand recursion:

You list the contents of a directory students, which contains two subdirectories level 1 and level 2 and the file named frank. By applying recursion, the ls command would list the content of students i.e. level 1, level 2 and frank, but would not end there. It would equally enter subdirectories level 1 and level 2 and list their contents and so on down the directory tree.

Recursive Listing with `ls -R`

ls -R is used to list the contents of a directory together with its subdirectories and files.

$ ls -R mydirectory
mydirectory/:
file1   newdirectory

mydirectory/newdirectory:

In the listing above, mydirectory including all its content are listed. You can observe mydirectory contains the subdirectory newdirectory and the file file1. newdirectory is empty that is why no content is shown.

In general, to list the contents of a directory including its subdirectories, use:

ls -R DIRECTORY_NAME

Adding a trailing slash to DIRECTORY_NAME has no effect:

$ ls -R animal

is similar to

$ ls -R animal/

Recursive Copy with `cp -r`

cp -r (or -R or --recursive) allows you to copy a directory together with its all subdirectories and files.

$ tree mydir
mydir
|_file1
|_newdir
    |_file2
    |_insidenew
        |_lastdir


3 directories, 2 files
$ mkdir newcopy
$ cp mydir newcopy
cp: omitting directory 'mydir'
$ cp -r mydir newcopy
* tree newcopy
newcopy
|_mydir
    |_file1
    |_newdir
        |_file2
        |_insidenew
            |_lastdir

4 directories, 2 files

In the listing above, we observe that trying to copy mydir into newcopy, using cp without -r, the system displays the message cp: omitting directory 'mydir'. However, by adding the option -r all the contents of mydir including itself are copied into newcopy.

To copy directories and subdirectories use:

cp -r SOURCE DESTINATION

Recursive Deletion with `rm -r`

rm -r will remove a directory and all its contents (subdirectories and files).

Warning

Be very careful with either the -r or the option combination of -rf when used with the rm command. A recursive remove command on an important system directory could render the system unusable. Employ the recursive remove command only when absolutely certain that the contents of a directory are safe to remove from a computer.

In trying to delete a directory without using -r the system would report an error:

$ rm newcopy/
rm: cannot remove 'newcopy/': Is a directory
$ rm -r newcopy/

You have to add -r as in the second command for the deletion to take effect.

Note	You may be wondering why we do not use `rmdir` in this case. There is a subtle difference between the two commands. `rmdir` would succeed in deleting only if the given directory is empty whereas `rm -r` can be used irrespective of whether this directory is empty or not.

Add the option -i to seek confirmation before the file is deleted:

$ rm -ri mydir/
rm: remove directory 'mydir/'?

The system prompts before trying to delete mydir.

File Globbing and Wildcards

File globbing is a feature provided by the Unix/Linux shell to represent multiple filenames by using special characters called wildcards. Wildcards are essentially symbols which may be used to substitute for one or more characters. They allow, for example, to show all files that start with the letter A or all files that end with the letters .conf.

Wildcards are very useful as they can be used with commands such as cp, ls or rm.

The following are some examples of file globbing:

rm *: Delete all files in current working directory.
ls l?st: List all files with names beginning with l followed by any single character and ending with st.
rmdir [a-z]*: Remove all directories whose name starts with a letter.

Types of Wildcards

There are three characters that can be used as wildcards in Linux:

* (asterisk): which represents zero, one or more occurrences of any character.
? (question mark): which represents a single occurrence of any character.
[ ] (bracketed characters): which represents any occurrence of the character(s) enclosed in the square brackets. It is possible to use different types of characters whether numbers, letters, other special characters. For example, the expression [0-9] matches all digits.

The Asterisk

An asterisk (*) matches zero, one or more occurrences of any character.

For example:

$ find /home -name *.png

This would find all files that end with .png such as photo.png, cat.png, frank.png. The find command will be explored further in a following lesson.

Similarly:

$ ls lpic-*.txt

would list all text files that start with the characters lpic- followed by any number of characters and end with .txt, such as lpic-1.txt and lpic-2.txt.

The asterisk wildcard can be used to manipulate (copy, delete or move) all the contents of a directory:

$ cp -r animal/* forest

In this example, all the contents of animal is copied into forest.

In general to copy all the contents of a directory we use:

cp -r SOURCE_PATH/* DEST_PATH

where SOURCE_PATH can be omitted if we are already in the required directory.

The asterisk, just as any other wildcard, could be used repeatedly in the same command and at any position:

$ rm *ate*

Filenames prefixed with zero, one or more occurrence of any character, followed by the letters ate and ending with zero, one or more occurrence of any character will be removed.

The Question Mark

The question mark (?) matches a single occurrence of a character.

Consider the listing:

$ ls
last.txt    lest.txt    list.txt    third.txt   past.txt

To return only the files that start with l followed by any single character and the characters st.txt, we use the question mark (?) wildcard:

$ ls l?st.txt
last.txt    lest.txt    list.txt

Only the files last.txt, lest.txt and list.txt are displayed as they match the given criteria.

Similarly,

$ ls ??st.txt
last.txt    lest.txt    list.txt    past.txt

output files that are prefixed with any two characters followed by the text st.txt.

Bracketed Characters

The bracketed wildcards matches any occurrence of the character(s) enclosed in the square brackets:

$ ls l[aef]st.txt
last.txt    lest.txt

This command would list all files starting with l followed by any of the characters in the set aef and ending with st.txt.

The square brackets could also take ranges:

$ ls l[a-z]st.txt
last.txt    lest.txt    list.txt

This outputs all files with names starting with l followed by any lower case letter in the range a to z and ending with st.txt.

Multiple ranges could also be applied in the square brackets:

$ ls
student-1A.txt  student-2A.txt  student-3.txt
$ ls student-[0-9][A-Z].txt
student-1A.text student-2A.txt

The listing shows a school directory with a list of registered students. To list only those students whose registration numbers meet the following criteria:

begin with student-
followed by a number, and an uppercase character
and end with .txt

Combining Wildcards

Wildcards can be combined as in:

$ ls
last.txt    lest.txt    list.txt    third.txt   past.txt
$ ls [plf]?st* 
list.txt    last.txt    past.txt

The first wildcard component ([plf]) matches any of the characters p, l or f. The second wildcard component (?) matches any single character. The third wildcard component (*) matches zero, one or many occurrences of any character.

Other wildcards such as the plus (+) wildcard exists which is used to represent character(s) that appear one or more times:

$ ls
file1.txt file.txt file23.txt fisher.txt fom23.txt
$ ls f*[0-9]+.txt
file1.txt file23.txt fom23.txt

The previous command displays all files that begin with the letter f, followed by any set of letters, at least one occurrence of a digit and ends with .txt. Note that file.txt is not displayed as it does not match this criteria.

Guided Exercises

Consider the listing below:

$ ls -lh
total 60K
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     21    Sep 7   12:59   emp_name
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     20    Sep 7   13:03   emp_salary
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank   8.8K    Apr 1   2018    examples.desktop
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     10    Sep 1   2018    file1
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     10    Sep 1   2018    file2
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Music
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Pictures
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Public
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Templates
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Videos

What does the character d represent in the output?
Why are the sizes given in human readable format?
What would be the difference in the output if ls was used with no argument?

Consider the command below:
```
$ cp /home/frank/emp_name /home/frank/backup
```
- What would happen to the file emp_name if this command is executed successfully?
- If emp_name was a directory what option should be added to cp to execute the command?
- If cp is now changed to mv what results do you expect?
Consider the listing :
```
$ ls
file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt file4.txt
```
Which wildcard would help to delete all the contents of this directory?
Based on the previous listing, what files would be displayed by the following command?
```
$ ls file*.txt
```
Complete the command by adding the appropriate digits and characters in the square brackets that would list all the content above:
```
$ ls file[].txt
```

Explorational Exercises

In your home directory, create the files called dog and cat.
Still in your home directory, create the directory called animal. Move dog and cat into animal.
Go to the Documents folder found in your home directory and inside, create the directory backup.
Copy animal and its contents into backup.
Rename animal in backup to animal.bkup.
The /home/lpi/databases directory contains many files which includes: db-1.tar.gz, db-2.tar.gz and db-3.tar.gz. Which single command can you use to list only the files mentioned above?
Consider the listing:
```
$ ls
cne1222223.pdf cne12349.txt cne1234.pdf
```
Without using an asterisk, what command would remove only the pdf files?

Summary

In this lesson, we explored how to view what is within a directory with the ls command, how to copy (cp) files and folders and how to move (mv) them as well. We also looked at how new directoris can be created with the mkdir command. The commands for removing files (rm) and folders (rmdir) was also discussed.

In this lesson, you also learned about file globbing and wildcards. File globbing is used to represent multiple file names by using special characters called wildcards. The basic wildcards and their meanings:

? (question mark): represents a single occurrence of a character.
[ ] (square brackets): represents any occurrence of the character(s) enclosed in the square brackets.
* (asterisk): represents zero, one or more occurrences of any character.

You may combine any these wildcards in the same statement.

Answers to Guided Exercises

Consider the listing below:

$ ls -lh
total 60K
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Downloads
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     21    Sep 7   12:59   emp_name
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     20    Sep 7   13:03   emp_salary
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank   8.8K    Apr 1   2018    examples.desktop
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     10    Sep 1   2018    file1
-rw-r--r--  1   frank   frank     10    Sep 1   2018    file2
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Music
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Pictures
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Public
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Templates
drwxr-xr-x  2   frank   frank   4.0K    Apr 1   2018    Videos

What does the character d represent in the output?

d is the character that identifies a directory.
Why are the sizes given in human readable format?

Due the option -h.
What would be the difference in the output if ls was used with no argument?

Directory and file names would be provided only.

Consider the command below:
```
$ cp /home/frank/emp_name /home/frank/backup
```
- What would happen to the file emp_name if this command is executed successfully?
  
  emp_name would be copied into backup.
- If emp_name was a directory what option should be added to cp to execute the command?
  
  -r
- If cp is now changed to mv what results do you expect?
  
  emp_name would be moved into backup. It would no longer be present inside the home directory of user frank.
Consider the listing :
```
$ ls
file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt file4.txt
```
Which wildcard would help to delete all the contents of this directory?

The asterisk *.
Based on the previous listing, what files would be displayed by the following command?
```
$ ls file*.txt
```
All of them, since the asterisk character represents any number of characters.
Complete the command by adding the appropriate digits and characters in the square brackets that would list all the content above:
```
$ ls file[].txt
```
file[0-9].txt

Answers to Explorational Exercises

In your home directory, create the files called dog and cat.
```
$ touch dog cat
```
Still in your home directory, create the directory called animal. Move dog and cat into animal.
```
$ mkdir animal
$ mv dog cat -t animal/
```
Go to the Documents folder found in your home directory and inside, create the directory backup.
```
$ cd ~/Documents
$ mkdir backup
```
Copy animal and its contents into backup.
```
$ cp -r animal ~/Documents/backup
```
Rename animal in backup to animal.bkup.
```
$ mv animal/ animal.bkup
```
The /home/lpi/databases directory contains many files which includes: db-1.tar.gz, db-2.tar.gz and db-3.tar.gz. Which single command can you use to list only the files mention above?
```
$ ls db-[1-3].tar.gz
```
Consider the listing:
```
$ ls
cne1222223.pdf cne12349.txt cne1234.pdf
```
Without using an asterisk, what command would remove only the pdf files?
```
$ rm cne*.pdf
```