Managing Files From the Command Line

The / directory is the root directory at the top of the file-system hierarchy. The / character is also used as a directory separator in file names. For example, if etc is a subdirectory of the / directory, you could refer to that directory as /etc. Likewise, if the /etc directory contained a file named issue, you could refer to that file as /etc/issue.
Subdirectories of / are used for standardized purposes to organize files by type and purpose. This makes it easier to find files. For example, in the root directory, the subdirectory /boot is used for storing files needed to boot the system
The following lists some of the most important directories on the system by name and purpose.
/usr : Installed software, shared libraries, include files, and read-only program data. Important subdirectories include:

• /usr/bin: User commands.
• /usr/sbin: System administration commands.
• /usr/local: Locally customized software.

/etc : Configuration files specific to this system.
/var : Variable data specific to this system that should persist between boots. Files that dynamically change, such as databases, cache directories, log files, printer-spooled documents, and website content may be found under /var.
/run : Runtime data for processes started since the last boot. This includes process ID files and lock files, among other things. The contents of this directory are recreated on reboot. This directory consolidates /var/run and /var/lock from earlier versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
/home : Home directories are where regular users store their personal data and configuration files.
/root : Home directory for the administrative superuser, root.
/tmp : A world-writable space for temporary files. Files which have not been accessed, changed, or modified for 10 days are deleted from this directory automatically. Another temporary directory exists, /var/tmp, in which files that have not been accessed, changed, or modified in more than 30 days are deleted automatically.
/boot : Files needed in order to start the boot process.
/dev : Contains special device files that are used by the system to access hardware.

Navigating Paths
The pwd command displays the full path name of the current working directory for that shell. This can help you determine the syntax to reach files using relative path names. The ls command lists directory contents for the specified directory or, if no directory is given, for the current working directory.

[user@host ~]$ pwd
/home/user
[user@host ~]$ ls
Desktop  Documents  Downloads  Music  Pictures  Public  Templates  Videos
[user@host ~]$

Use the cd command to change your shell's current working directory. If you do not specify any arguments to the command, it will change to your home directory.
In the following example, a mixture of absolute and relative paths are used with the cd command to change the current working directory for the shell.

[user@host ~]$ pwd
/home/user
[user@host ~]$ cd Videos
[user@host Videos]$ pwd
/home/user/Videos
[user@host Videos]$ cd /home/user/Documents
[user@host Documents]$ pwd
/home/user/Documents
[user@host Documents]$ cd
[user@host ~]$ pwd
/home/user
[user@host ~]$

The touch command normally updates a file's timestamp to the current date and time without otherwise modifying it. This is useful for creating empty files, which can be used for practice, because "touching" a file name that does not exist causes the file to be created. In the following example, the touch command creates practice files in the Documents and Videos subdirectories.

[user@host ~]$ touch Videos/blockbuster1.ogg
[user@host ~]$ touch Videos/blockbuster2.ogg
[user@host ~]$ touch Documents/thesis_chapter1.odf
[user@host ~]$ touch Documents/thesis_chapter2.odf
[user@host ~]$

The ls command has multiple options for displaying attributes on files. The most common and useful are -l (long listing format), -a (all files, including hidden files), and -R (recursive, to include the contents of all subdirectories).

[user@host ~]$ ls -l
total 15
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user 4096 Feb  7 14:02 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user 4096 Jan  9 15:00 Documents
drwxr-xr-x.  3 user user 4096 Jan  9 15:00 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user 4096 Jan  9 15:00 Music
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user 4096 Jan  9 15:00 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user 4096 Jan  9 15:00 Public
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user 4096 Jan  9 15:00 Templates
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user 4096 Jan  9 15:00 Videos
[user@host ~]$ ls -la
total 15
drwx------. 16 user user   4096 Feb  8 16:15 .
drwxr-xr-x.  6 root root   4096 Feb  8 16:13 ..
-rw-------.  1 user user  22664 Feb  8 00:37 .bash_history
-rw-r--r--.  1 user user     18 Jul  9  2013 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--.  1 user user    176 Jul  9  2013 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--.  1 user user    124 Jul  9  2013 .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x.  4 user user   4096 Jan 20 14:02 .cache
drwxr-xr-x.  8 user user   4096 Feb  5 11:45 .config
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user   4096 Feb  7 14:02 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user   4096 Jan  9 15:00 Documents
drwxr-xr-x.  3 user user   4096 Jan 25 20:48 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x. 11 user user   4096 Feb  6 13:07 .gnome2
drwx------.  2 user user   4096 Jan 20 14:02 .gnome2_private
-rw-------.  1 user user  15190 Feb  8 09:49 .ICEauthority
drwxr-xr-x.  3 user user   4096 Jan  9 15:00 .local
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user   4096 Jan  9 15:00 Music
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user   4096 Jan  9 15:00 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user   4096 Jan  9 15:00 Public
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user   4096 Jan  9 15:00 Templates
drwxr-xr-x.  2 user user   4096 Jan  9 15:00 Videos
[user@host ~]$

File names beginning with a dot (.) indicate hidden files; you cannot see them in the normal view using ls and other commands. This is not a security feature. Hidden files keep necessary user configuration files from cluttering home directories. Many commands process hidden files only with specific command-line options, preventing one user's configuration from being accidentally copied to other directories or users.
To protect file contents from improper viewing requires the use of file permissions.

[user@host ~]$ ls -R
.:
Desktop  Documents  Downloads  Music  Pictures  Public  Templates  Videos

./Desktop:

./Documents:
thesis_chapter1.odf  thesis_chapter2.odf

./Downloads:

./Music:

./Pictures:

./Public:

./Templates:

./Videos:
blockbuster1.ogg  blockbuster2.ogg
[user@host ~]$

The cd command has many options. A few are so useful as to be worth practicing early and using often. The command cd - changes to the previous directory; where the user was previously to the current directory. The following example illustrates this behavior, alternating between two directories, which is useful when processing a series of similar tasks.

[user@host ~]$ cd Videos
[user@host Videos]$ pwd
/home/user/Videos
[user@host Videos]$ cd /home/user/Documents
[user@host Documents]$ pwd
/home/user/Documents
[user@host Documents]$ cd -
[user@host Videos]$ pwd
/home/user/Videos
[user@host Videos]$ cd -
[user@host Documents]$ pwd
/home/user/Documents
[user@host Documents]$ cd -
[user@host Videos]$ pwd
/home/user/Videos
[user@host Videos]$ cd
[user@host ~]$

The cd .. command uses the .. hidden directory to move up one level to the parent directory, without needing to know the exact parent name. The other hidden directory (.) specifies the current directory on commands in which the current location is either the source or destination argument, avoiding the need to type out the directory's absolute path name.

[user@host Videos]$ pwd
/home/user/Videos
[user@host Videos]$ cd .
[user@host Videos]$ pwd
/home/user/Videos
[user@host Videos]$ cd ..
[user@host ~]$ pwd
/home/user
[user@host ~]$ cd ..
[user@host home]$ pwd
/home
[user@host home]$ cd ..
[user@host /]$ pwd
/
[user@host /]$ cd
[user@host ~]$ pwd
/home/user
[user@host ~]$

Creating Directories
The mkdir command creates one or more directories or subdirectories. It takes as arguments a list of paths to the directories you want to create.

[user@host ~]$ mkdir Videos/Watched
[user@host ~]$ ls -R Videos
Videos/:
blockbuster1.ogg  blockbuster2.ogg  Watched

Videos/Watched:

In the following example, files and directories are organized beneath the /home/user/Documents directory. Use the mkdir command and a space-delimited list of the directory names to create multiple directories.

[user@host ~]$ cd Documents
[user@host Documents]$ mkdir ProjectX ProjectY
[user@host Documents]$ ls
ProjectX  ProjectY

Use the mkdir -p command and space-delimited relative paths for each of the subdirectory names to create multiple parent directories with subdirectories.

[user@host Documents]$ mkdir -p Thesis/Chapter1 Thesis/Chapter2 Thesis/Chapter3
[user@host Documents]$ cd
[user@host ~]$ ls -R Videos Documents
Documents:
ProjectX  ProjectY  Thesis

Documents/ProjectX:

Documents/ProjectY:

Documents/Thesis:
Chapter1  Chapter2  Chapter3

Documents/Thesis/Chapter1:

Documents/Thesis/Chapter2:

Documents/Thesis/Chapter3:

Videos:
blockbuster1.ogg  blockbuster2.ogg  Watched

Videos/Watched:

Copying Files
The cp command copies a file, creating a new file either in the current directory or in a specified directory. It can also copy multiple files to a directory.

[user@host ~]$ cd Videos
[user@host Videos]$ cp blockbuster1.ogg blockbuster3.ogg
[user@host Videos]$ ls -l
total 0
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user    0 Feb  8 16:23 blockbuster1.ogg
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user    0 Feb  8 16:24 blockbuster2.ogg
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user    0 Feb  8 16:34 blockbuster3.ogg
drwxrwxr-x. 2 user user 4096 Feb  8 16:05 Watched
[user@host Videos]$

When copying multiple files with one command, the last argument must be a directory. Copied files retain their original names in the new directory. If a file with the same name exists in the target directory, the existing file is overwritten. By default, the cp does not copy directories; it ignores them.
In the following example, two directories are listed, Thesis and ProjectX. Only the last argument, ProjectX is valid as a destination. The Thesis directory is ignored.

[user@host Videos]$ cd ../Documents
[user@host Documents]$ cp thesis_chapter1.odf thesis_chapter2.odf Thesis ProjectX
cp: omitting directory `Thesis'
[user@host Documents]$ ls Thesis ProjectX
ProjectX:
thesis_chapter1.odf  thesis_chapter2.odf

In the first cp command, the Thesis directory failed to copy, but the thesis_chapter1.odf and thesis_chapter2.odf files succeeded.
If you want to copy a file to the current working directory, you can use the special . directory:

[user@host ~]$ cp /etc/hostname .
[user@host ~]$ cat hostname
host.example.com
[user@host ~]$

Use the copy command with the -r (recursive) option, to copy the Thesis directory and its contents to the ProjectX directory.

[user@host Documents]$ cp -r Thesis ProjectX
[user@host Documents]$ ls -R ProjectX
ProjectX:
Thesis  thesis_chapter1.odf  thesis_chapter2.odf

ProjectX/Thesis:
Chapter1  Chapter2  Chapter3

ProjectX/Thesis/Chapter1:

ProjectX/Thesis/Chapter2:
thesis_chapter2.odf

ProjectX/Thesis/Chapter3:

Moving Files
The mv command moves files from one location to another. If you think of the absolute path to a file as its full name, moving a file is effectively the same as renaming a file. File contents remain unchanged.
Use the mv command to rename a file.

[user@host Videos]$ cd ../Documents
[user@host Documents]$ ls -l thesis*
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user 0 Feb  6 21:16 thesis_chapter1.odf
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user 0 Feb  6 21:16 thesis_chapter2.odf
[user@host Documents]$ mv thesis_chapter2.odf thesis_chapter2_reviewed.odf
[user@host Documents]$ ls -l thesis*
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user 0 Feb  6 21:16 thesis_chapter1.odf
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user 0 Feb  6 21:16 thesis_chapter2_reviewed.odf

Use the mv command to move a file to a different directory.

[user@host Documents]$ ls Thesis/Chapter1
[user@host Documents]$
[user@host Documents]$ mv thesis_chapter1.odf Thesis/Chapter1
[user@host Documents]$ ls Thesis/Chapter1
thesis_chapter1.odf
[user@host Documents]$ ls -l thesis*
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user 0 Feb  6 21:16 thesis_chapter2_reviewed.odf

Removing Files and Directories
The rm command removes files. By default, rm will not remove directories that contain files, unless you add the -r or --recursive option.
Use the rm command to remove a single file from your working directory.

[user@host Documents]$ ls -l thesis*
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user 0 Feb  6 21:16 thesis_chapter2_reviewed.odf
[user@host Documents]$ rm thesis_chapter2_reviewed.odf
[user@host Documents]$ ls -l thesis*
ls: cannot access 'thesis*': No such file or directory

Use the rm -r command to remove a subdirectory and its contents.

[user@host Documents]$ ls -R Thesis
Thesis/:
Chapter1  Chapter2  Chapter3

Thesis/Chapter1:
thesis_chapter1.odf

Thesis/Chapter2:
thesis_chapter2.odf

Thesis/Chapter3:
[user@host Documents]$ rm -r Thesis/Chapter1
[user@host Documents]$ ls -l Thesis
total 8
drwxrwxr-x. 2 user user 4096 Feb 11 12:47 Chapter2
drwxrwxr-x. 2 user user 4096 Feb 11 12:48 Chapter3

You can use the rm -ri command to interactively prompt for confirmation before deleting. This is essentially the opposite of using the -f option, which forces the removal without prompting the user for confirmation.

[user@host Documents]$ rm -ri Thesis
rm: descend into directory `Thesis'? y
rm: descend into directory `Thesis/Chapter2'? y
rm: remove regular empty file `Thesis/Chapter2/thesis_chapter2.odf'? y
rm: remove directory `Thesis/Chapter2'? y
rm: remove directory `Thesis/Chapter3'? y
rm: remove directory `Thesis'? y
[user@host Documents]$

The rmdir command only removes the directory that is empty. Just like the earlier example, you must use the rm -r command to remove a directory that contains content.

[user@host Documents]$ rmdir ProjectY
[user@host Documents]$ rmdir ProjectX
rmdir: failed to remove `ProjectX': Directory not empty
[user@host Documents]$ rm -r ProjectX
[user@host Documents]$ ls -lR
.:
total 0
[user@host Documents]$

Creating Hard Links
You can find out if a file has multiple hard links with the ls -l command.

[user@host ~]$ pwd
/home/user
[user@host ~]$ ls -l newfile.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 user user 0 Mar 11 19:19 newfile.txt

You can use the ln command to create a new hard link (another name) that points to an existing file. The command needs at least two arguments, a path to the existing file, and the path to the hard link that you want to create.

[user@host ~]$ ln newfile.txt /tmp/newfile-hlink2.txt
[user@host ~]$ ls -l newfile.txt /tmp/newfile-hlink2.txt
-rw-rw-r--. 2 user user 12 Mar 11 19:19 newfile.txt
-rw-rw-r--. 2 user user 12 Mar 11 19:19 /tmp/newfile-hlink2.txt

If you want to find out whether two files are hard links of each other, one way is to use the -i option with the ls command to list the files' inode number.

[user@host ~]$ ls -il newfile.txt /tmp/newfile-hlink2.txt
8924107 -rw-rw-r--. 2 user user 12 Mar 11 19:19 newfile.txt
8924107 -rw-rw-r--. 2 user user 12 Mar 11 19:19 /tmp/newfile-hlink2.txt

Even if the original file gets deleted, the contents of the file are still available as long as at least one hard link exists. Data is only deleted from storage when the last hard link is deleted.

[user@host ~]$ rm -f newfile.txt
[user@host ~]$ ls -l /tmp/newfile-hlink2.txt
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user 12 Mar 11 19:19 /tmp/newfile-hlink2.txt
[user@host ~]$ cat /tmp/newfile-hlink2.txt
Hello World

Limitations of Hard Links
You can use the df command to list the directories that are on different file systems. For example, you might see output like the following:

[user@host ~]$ df
Filesystem                   1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
devtmpfs                        886788       0    886788   0% /dev
tmpfs                           902108       0    902108   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                           902108    8696    893412   1% /run
tmpfs                           902108       0    902108   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mapper/rhel_rhel8--root  10258432 1630460   8627972  16% /
/dev/sda1                      1038336  167128    871208  17% /boot
tmpfs                           180420       0    180420   0% /run/user/1000
[user@host ~]$

Creating Soft Links
the ln -s command is used to create a new soft link for the existing file /home/user/newfile-link2.txt that will be named /tmp/newfile-symlink.txt.

[user@host ~]$ ln -s /home/user/newfile-link2.txt /tmp/newfile-symlink.txt
[user@host ~]$ ls -l newfile-link2.txt /tmp/newfile-symlink.txt
-rw-rw-r--. 1 user user 12 Mar 11 19:19 newfile-link2.txt
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 user user 11 Mar 11 20:59 /tmp/newfile-symlink.txt -> /home/user/newfile-link2.txt
[user@host ~]$ cat /tmp/newfile-symlink.txt
Soft Hello World

By default cd will update your current working directory using the name of the soft link rather than the name of the actual directory. (There is an option, -P, that will update it with the name of the actual directory instead.)
In the following example, a soft link named /home/user/configfiles is created that points to the /etc directory.

[user@host ~]$ ln -s /etc /home/user/configfiles
[user@host ~]$ cd /home/user/configfiles
[user@host configfiles]$ pwd
/home/user/configfiles

Pattern Matching
For the next few examples, pretend that you have run the following commands to create some sample files.

[user@host ~]$ mkdir glob; cd glob
[user@host glob]$ touch alfa bravo charlie delta echo able baker cast dog easy
[user@host glob]$ ls
able  alfa  baker  bravo  cast  charlie  delta  dog  easy  echo
[user@host glob]$

The first example will use simple pattern matches with the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) characters, and a class of characters, to match some of those file names.

[user@host glob]$ ls a*
able  alfa
[user@host glob]$ ls *a*
able  alfa  baker  bravo  cast  charlie  delta  easy
[user@host glob]$ ls [ac]*
able  alfa  cast  charlie
[user@host glob]$ ls ????
able  alfa  cast  easy  echo
[user@host glob]$ ls ?????
baker  bravo  delta
[user@host glob]$

Tilde Expansion
The tilde character (~), matches the current user's home directory. The echo command is used to display the value of the tilde character. The echo command can also be used to display the values of brace and variable expansion characters, and others.

[user@host glob]$ echo ~root
/root 
/home/pengguna 
/home/pengguna/glob
[user@host glob]$ echo ~user
[user@host glob]$ echo ~/glob
[user@host glob]$

Brace Expansion
Brace expansions may be nested, one inside another. Also double-dot syntax (..) expands to a sequence such that {m..p} will expand to m n o p.

[user@host glob]$ echo {Sunday,Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday}.log
Sunday.log Monday.log Tuesday.log Wednesday.log
[user@host glob]$ echo file{1..3}.txt
file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
[user@host glob]$ echo file{a..c}.txt
filea.txt fileb.txt filec.txt
[user@host glob]$ echo file{a,b}{1,2}.txt
filea1.txt filea2.txt fileb1.txt fileb2.txt
[user@host glob]$ echo file{a{1,2},b,c}.txt
filea1.txt filea2.txt fileb.txt filec.txt
[user@host glob]$ 

A practical use of brace expansion is to quickly create a number of files or directories.

[user@host glob]$ mkdir ../RHEL{6,7,8}
[user@host glob]$ ls ../RHEL*
RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
[user@host glob]$

Variable Expansion
Variables make it easy to access and modify the stored data either from the command line or within a shell script. You can assign data as a value to a variable using the following syntax:

[user@host ~]$ VARIABLENAME=value

If a string starts with a dollar sign ($), then the shell will try to use the rest of that string as a variable name and replace it with whatever value the variable has.

[user@host ~]$ USERNAME=operator
[user@host ~]$ echo $USERNAME
operator

You can use variable expansion to convert the variable name to its value on the command line. If a string starts with a dollar sign ($), then the shell will try to use the rest of that string as a variable name and replace it with whatever value the variable has.

[user@host ~]$ USERNAME=operator
[user@host ~]$ echo ${USERNAME}
operator

Command Substitution
Command substitution occurs when a command is enclosed in parentheses, and preceded by a dollar sign ($). The $(command) form can nest multiple command expansions inside each other.

[user@host glob]$ echo Today is $(date +%A).
Today is Wednesday.
[user@host glob]$ echo The time is $(date +%M) minutes past $(date +%l%p).
The time is 26 minutes past 11AM.
[user@host glob]$

Protecting Arguments from Expansion
The backslash () is an escape character in the Bash shell. It will protect the character immediately following it from expansion.

[user@host glob]$ echo The value of $HOME is your home directory.
The value of /home/user is your home directory.
[user@host glob]$ echo The value of \$HOME is your home directory.
The value of $HOME is your home directory.
[user@host glob]$

To protect longer character strings, single quotes (') or double quotes (") are used to enclose strings. They have slightly different effects. Single quotes stop all shell expansion. Double quotes stop most shell expansion.

[user@host glob]$ myhost=$(hostname -s); echo $myhost
host
[user@host glob]$ echo "***** hostname is ${myhost} *****"
***** hostname is host *****
[user@host glob]$

Use single quotation marks to interpret all text literally.

[user@host glob]$ echo "Will variable $myhost evaluate to $(hostname -s)?"
Will variable host evaluate to host?
[user@host glob]$ echo 'Will variable $myhost evaluate to $(hostname -s)?'
Will variable $myhost evaluate to $(hostname -s)?
[user@host glob]$