Linux File and Directory Management

File and directory management is a fundamental Linux skill involving listing, viewing, creating, copying, moving, and removing files and directories.

ls (list)

• Purpose: Lists directory contents

• Common Options:

  • -a = Show all files (including hidden files starting with .)

  • -l = Long listing format (shows permissions, owner, size, date)

  • -al = Combined (often aliased to ll)

pwd (print working directory)

• Purpose: Shows the full path of current directory

• Usage: pwd

• Output: /home/username

cd (change directory)

• Purpose: Navigate between directories

• Special Characters:

  • . (dot) = Current directory

  • .. (dot dot) = Parent directory

  • - (dash) = Previous working directory

  • ~ (tilde) = User's home directory

Examples:

cd /home/user # Absolute path

cd ~ # Home directory

cd .. # Parent directory

cd - # Previous directory

cat (concatenate)

• Purpose: Display file contents in standard output

• Usage: cat filename

• Note: Good for viewing small text files

vi (visual editor)

• Purpose: Text editor for viewing and editing files

• Also creates files if they don't exist

• Basic Usage:

  • i = Insert mode (to type)

  • Esc = Exit insert mode

  • :w = Save (write)

  • :q = Quit

  • :wq = Save and quit

Absolute Path:

• A complete path starting from the root directory

• Always begins from the root directory (/ in Linux/Mac, C:\ in Windows)

• Works regardless of your current location in the file system

• Like giving a complete street address with city, state, and country

Examples of absolute paths:

Windows: C:\Users\John\Documents\file.txt

Linux/Mac: /home/user/documents/file.txt

Relative Path:

• A path relative to your current working directory

• Starts from where you currently are in the file system

• Changes meaning depending on your current location

• Like giving directions from your current position

Examples of relative paths:

./file.txt (file in current directory) ../file.txt

(file in parent directory)

folder/file.txt (file in subfolder of current directory)

Special Symbols in Relative Paths:

• . refers to current directory

• .. refers to parent directory

• ~ refers to home directory (in Linux/Mac)

Real-world Analogy:

• Absolute path is like: "123 Main Street, New York, NY, 10001, USA"

• Relative path is like: "Two blocks down, turn right"

The relative path only makes sense if you know your starting point, while the absolute path works from anywhere.

touch

• Primary Purpose: Update timestamp of existing file

• Secondary Use: Creates new empty file if it doesn't exist

• Usage: touch filename or touch file1 file2 file3

mkdir (make directory)

• Purpose: Create directories

• Usage: mkdir directory_name

• Important Option:

  • -p = Create parent directories as needed

  • Example: mkdir -p dir1/dir2/dir3 (creates all three)

cp (copy)

• Purpose: Copy files and directories

• Usage: cp source destination

• Critical Option:

  • -r or -R = Required for copying directories recursively

  • Example: cp -r directory1 directory2

mv (move)

• Purpose: Move OR rename files/directories

• Usage:

  • Move: mv file.txt /other/directory/

  • Rename: mv oldname.txt newname.txt

• Note: No special options needed for directories

rm (remove)

• Purpose: Delete files and directories

• Usage: rm filename

• Important Options:

  • -r or -R = Remove directories recursively

  • -f = Force (no prompts/confirmations)

  • Warning: Be very careful! Deletion is permanent!

Examples:

rm file.txt # Remove file

rm -r directory/ # Remove directory

rm -rf directory/ # Force remove without prompts

rm -f storage/* # Remove all files in directory

rmdir (remove directory)

• Purpose: Remove EMPTY directories only

• Usage: rmdir directory_name

• Limitation: Directory must be completely empty

Hidden Files

• Start with a dot (.)

• Examples: .bashrc, .profile

• Only visible with ls -a

• Often contain user configuration

Wildcards

• * (asterisk) = Matches any characters

• Example: rm test* removes test01, test02, test03, etc.

• Example: rm *.txt removes all .txt files

Tab Completion

• Press Tab to autocomplete file/directory names

• Saves typing and prevents errors

• Works in most modern Linux distributions

Directory Indicators

• / at end = Directory (from tab completion)

• d in ls -l output = Directory

• - in ls -l output = Regular file

Absolute vs Relative Paths

• Absolute: Full path from root (/home/user/file)

• Relative: Path from current location (../file)

1. Always double-check before using rm -rf

2. Be careful with wildcards (*)

3. Use -i option for interactive prompts if unsure

4. Verify your location with pwd before deleting

5. Test commands with ls before using rm

ls (use -a for all files including hidden, -l for long format)

Print Working Directory - displays the full path of the current directory you're in.

• . = Current directory

• .. = Parent directory

• - = Previous directory

• ~ = Home directory

cd ~ or just cd

cd ..

cat filename

A text editor that can view, edit, and create files. If the file doesn't exist, vi will create it.

• i = Insert mode

• Esc = Exit insert mode

• :w = Save

• :q = Quit

• :wq = Save and quit

touch filename (primarily updates timestamp, but creates file if it doesn't exist)

touch file1 file2 file3 (separate filenames with spaces)

mkdir directory_name

Creates parent directories as needed. Example: mkdir -p dir1/dir2/dir3 creates all three levels.

cp source destination (use -r option for directories)

The -r (recursive) option is required to copy directories and all their contents. Without it, cp will fail on directories.

mv source destination (move) or mv oldname newname (rename)

• Move: mv file.txt /other/directory/

• Rename: mv oldname.txt newname.txt (same directory)

rm filename

-r (recursive) to remove directory and contents. Often combined with -f (force): rm -rf directory/

Force removal without prompting for confirmation. Use with caution!

• rm = Removes files and directories (with -r)

• rmdir = Only removes EMPTY directories

It will fail with an error message stating the directory is not empty.

Hidden files (files starting with a dot .)

Long listing format showing permissions, owner, group, size, timestamp, and filename.

ll (on many distributions)

Hidden files start with a dot (.) such as .bashrc or .profile

Matches any characters. Example: rm test* removes all files starting with "test"

Removes all files in the storage directory without prompting (but not subdirectories)

Tab key - autocompletes file/directory names to save typing and prevent errors

• d at the beginning = Directory

• - at the beginning = Regular file

The full path from the root directory. Example: /home/user/documents/file.txt

A path relative to the current directory. Example: ../documents/file.txt

Yes. If you run vi newfile.txt and the file doesn't exist, vi will create it when you save.

1. touch filename

2. Text editor like vi filename or nano filename

1. First remove all files inside: rm directory/*

2. Then use rmdir directory to remove the empty directory

It forcefully removes directories and all contents without prompting. Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone!

pwd (print working directory)

It will fail with an error saying -r not specified and will omit the directory.

cd -

ls -al or ll

It indicates the item is a directory (often added by tab completion)

Navigation commands:

pwd

cd ~

cd ..

cd -

ls -la

File operations:

touch file.txt

cat file.txt

cp file.txt file_copy.txt

mv file.txt newname.txt

rm file.txt

Directory operations:

mkdir mydir

mkdir -p dir1/dir2/dir3

cp -r mydir mydir_backup

rm -r mydir

rmdir empty_directory

1. Forgetting -r with cp or rm for directories

2. Using rm -rf without double-checking path

3. Confusing / (root) with /root (root's home)

4. Not checking pwd before deleting files

5. Forgetting hidden files exist

• Always verify location with pwd

• Use ls to check before rm

• Double-check wildcards (*)

• Be extremely careful with rm -rf

• Test commands on unimportant files first