Linux File Management and Directories A data in UNIX ws organized into ies. All files are organized into directories These directories are organized into @ tree-lke structure i filesystem, the ks to ther ete, You lok at working with ordinary thes: re both special and ordinary fles, For users 105, UNIK directors ae equ alent to folders. les — Some special files provide access to hardware such 35 hard (CD-ROM cnves, modems, and Ethernet adapters. Other spec The command Is supports the I option which would help you to get more Information about the listed files ~ + Second Column: represents the number of memory blocks taken by the fe or rectory + Third Cohim: represents owner of the file. This 6 the Unix user who created this fe + Fourth Column: represents group ofthe owner. Every Uni user would have an associated group, + Fith Column represents fle sze in bytes. + etn Column: represents date and tine when this Me was created or modified laste, ‘+ Seventh Column: represents fle or directory name. Im the Is -1 listing example, every file line began with a 4, -, or 1. These characters indicate the type of file that's ised.nary executable, oF ard lock speci fe, Block mpufoutt device We Such asa physica Symbolic ink le, Links on any regular te, . Socket used for iterprocess communcation Meta Characters Meta characters have special meaning in Unix. For example * and ? are ‘metacharacters. We use * to match 0 or more characters, a question ‘mark matches with single character. For Example ~ 1 files whose name start with ch and ends with .doc ~ ar-a.coc epere.dee enr.coe — en0-2.000 Here * works as meta character which matches with any character. If you want to display al the files ending with just .doc then you can use following ‘command ~ Hiden Fes An invisible file is one whose first character isthe dot or period character (,). UNIX uding the shell) use most of these files to store configuration information ‘Some common examples of hidden files include the files ~ + Double dt .. This represents parent decry, (Creating Fes ‘You can use vieditor to create ordinary fles on any Unix system. You simply need to give folowing command = ‘Above command would open a file with the given filename. You would need to press ‘come Into edit mode. Once you are in edit mode you can start writing your content inthe file as below ~ Ta going to save Git Once you are done, do the following steps ~ rst thee. + Press key esc to come outof edt mode.1+ ress two keys Shift + 2z togetner to come out ofthe file completely Now you would have file created with filename in the current You can edit an existing file using vi editor. We would cover this in detail in 2 separate tutorial. But in short, you can open existing file as follows ~ S64 folenae ‘Once file is opened, you can come in edit mode by pressing key i and then le as you like. If you want to move here and there inside a fle ressing key esc and then ‘you can use following keys to move inside a fi + ey to move tothe right side 1+ key to move to the let ide + kchey to move up sie in the fe, 1+ Sey to move down side n the fe. So using above keys you can position your cursor where ever you want to edit. Once you are positioned then you can use I key to come in edit mode. ait the file, once you are done press esc and finally two keys Shift + ZZ together to come out of the file completely. Depiay Content ofa Fle You can use cat command to see the content of a fi simple example to see the content of above created file nis is unir file. created £8 for the first thee. eon to save his Content in tus fide 5 ‘You can display line numbers by using -b option along with eat command as follows ~ Contig odin Fe You can use the we command to get a count of the total number of lines, ‘words, and characters contained in a file. Following is the simple example to see the information about above created file ~ Sue fetenane Here isthe detail of all the four columns — + First Column: represents total numberof tines in the fe, + Second Column represents total number of words inthe fle. ‘+ Third Column: represents total number of bytes inthe file, This Is actual sie of the file. + Fourth Column: represents fle name. You can give multiple files at a time to get the information about those file. Here is simple syntax ~ 1 ve Llanes FLlenaned erased Comings: To make a copy of a file use the cp command. The basic syntax of the ‘command is — 5 ep source Fite sestination He Following is the example to create a copy of existing file filename.Now you would find one more file copyfile in your current directory. This file would be exactly same as original file filename. eran Fes To change the name of a file use the my command, Its basic syntax is — the example which would rename existing ame tonewfile: Sev tenses neve ‘The mv command would move existing file completely into new file. So in this case you would fine only newfie in your current directory. Dakar Fe To delete an existing fle use the rm command. Its basic syntax is ~ 5 00 eiLeane ‘Caution: It may be dangerous to delete a file because it may contain useful ‘formation. So be careful while using this command. It is recommended t Luse+i option along with rm command. Following is the example which would completely remove existing filefilename: 5 re filename ‘ You cen remove multiple files ata tle as follows — Linux Directories A directory is a file whose sole job is to store file names and related information. All files, whether ordinary, special, or directory, are contained In directories, the slash character (/), and all other directories are contained below Hoe Decry The directory in which you find yourself when you first login is called your home directory. You will be doing much of your work In your home directory and Subdirectories that you'll be creating to organize your fies, ‘You can go in your home directory anytime using the following command — .se ; Here ~ indicates home directory. If you want to go in any other user's home directory then use the following command ~ ‘To go in your last directory you can use following command — fries are arranged in a hierarchy with root (/) at the top. The position Within the hierarchy is described by its pathname, Elements of a pathname are separated by a /. A pathname is absolute If it 's described in relation to root, so absolute pathnames always begin with a /. ‘These are some example of absolute filenames. ‘A pathname can also be relat pathnames never begin ‘some pathnames might look to your current working directory. Relative to user amrood' home directory, ine where you are within the filesystem hierarchy at any time, enter the command pwd to print the current working directory ~ i Jusera/none sao ‘ Using recs (Gating Drees Directories are created by the following command ~ Stir strane Here, directory is the absolute or relative pathname of the directory you want to create. For example, the command ~ ‘axate myttr This command creates the directory tes ‘The mkdircommand produces no output requested directory. If you give more than one directory on the command line, mkdir creates each of the directories. For example ~ Smuate aoce pub CCreates the directories docs and pub under the current directorycosting Pare Ores Sometimes when you want to create a directory, its parent directory or directories might not exist. In this case, mkdir issues an error message os follows — In such cases, you can specify the -p option to the mkdir command. It the necessary directories for you. For exemple ~ 1 /ap/aaoos ‘Above command creates all the required parent directories. Directories can be deleted using the rmdir command as follows — Note - To remove a directory make sure It Is empty which means there should not be any file oF sub-directory Inside this directory. ‘You can remove multiple directories at a time 2s follows ~ sr 5 ‘Above command removes the directories dirnamet, dimame2, and dirname2 if they are empty. The rmdir command produces no output if itis successful Cargng Deere You can use the ed command to do more than change to a home directory: to change to any directory by specifying a vali absolute or The syntax is as follows ~ Changes to the directory /usr/local/oin. From this directory you can cd to the directory /usr/home/amrood using the following relative path ~ ea snone/areod ‘The rectors. (et and ot on) “The filename . (dot) represents the current working directory; and the filename .. (dot dot) represent the directory one level above the current working directory, often referred to as the parent directo