📝 File Operations

Creating Files and Directories

touch — Create Empty File (or Update Timestamp)

touch newfile.txt           # Create empty file
touch file1.txt file2.txt   # Create multiple files
touch existing.txt          # Update modification time

mkdir — Make Directory

mkdir mydir                 # Create directory
mkdir -p a/b/c/d            # Create parent directories too
mkdir dir1 dir2 dir3        # Create multiple directories

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Copying

cp — Copy Files

cp source.txt dest.txt      # Copy file
cp file.txt /path/to/       # Copy to directory
cp -r mydir/ backup/        # Copy directory recursively
cp -i file.txt backup/      # Ask before overwriting
cp -v *.txt backup/         # Verbose (show what's copied)

Important Flags

• -r or -R — Recursive (for directories)
• -i — Interactive (confirm overwrites)
• -v — Verbose
• -p — Preserve permissions and timestamps

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Moving and Renaming

mv — Move or Rename

mv oldname.txt newname.txt  # Rename file
mv file.txt /path/to/       # Move to directory
mv -i source.txt dest.txt   # Ask before overwriting
mv *.txt Documents/         # Move multiple files
mv dir1/ dir2/              # Rename directory

Moving and renaming are the same operation in Linux!

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Deleting

rm — Remove Files

rm file.txt                 # Delete file
rm -r directory/            # Delete directory and contents
rm -f file.txt              # Force (no confirmation)
rm -rf directory/           # Force delete directory (DANGEROUS)
rm -i *.txt                 # Ask for each file

rmdir — Remove Empty Directory

rmdir empty_dir             # Only works if empty

Warning: rm is Permanent!

There’s no trash can. Files are gone forever.

# NEVER do this:
rm -rf /                    # Deletes everything
rm -rf ~                    # Deletes your home
rm -rf *                    # Deletes current directory contents

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Viewing File Contents

cat — Display Entire File

cat file.txt                # Print file contents
cat file1.txt file2.txt     # Concatenate files

head / tail — View Start or End

head file.txt               # First 10 lines
head -n 20 file.txt         # First 20 lines
tail file.txt               # Last 10 lines
tail -n 20 file.txt         # Last 20 lines
tail -f logfile             # Follow (watch for new lines)

less — Scrollable Viewer

less file.txt               # Scroll with arrows
# Press 'q' to quit
# Press '/' to search
# Press 'n' for next match

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Symbolic Links

ln — Create Links

ln -s /path/to/original link_name   # Create symlink
ls -l link_name                     # Shows -> pointing to original

Symlinks are like shortcuts. If you delete the original, the link breaks.

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File Information

file — Determine File Type

file document.pdf           # PDF document
file script.sh              # Bourne-Again shell script
file /bin/ls                # ELF executable

stat — Detailed File Info

stat file.txt               # Size, permissions, timestamps, inode

du — Disk Usage

du -h file.txt              # Size of file
du -sh directory/           # Size of directory
du -sh */                   # Size of all subdirectories

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Try It!

Practice file operations in the terminal:

Exercises:

1. Create a directory: mkdir practice
2. Create files: touch practice/file1.txt practice/file2.txt
3. Copy a file: cp practice/file1.txt practice/backup.txt
4. Rename: mv practice/backup.txt practice/copy.txt
5. Delete the practice directory: rm -r practice
6. View system files: cat /etc/hostname

Try it in the terminal

A sandboxed shell with this lesson’s commands. Type help to see what’s available.