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File and Directory Operations in Linux Commands

#linux

Creating and Removing

  • touch: Create an empty file. 
  $ touch newfile.txt
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  • mkdir: Create a new directory. 
  $ mkdir new_directory
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  • rm: Remove files.

    • -r (or --recursive): Remove directories and their contents.
    • -f: Force removal without confirmation. 
    $ rm file_to_remove.txt
$ rm -rf directory_to_remove/

  • rmdir: Remove an empty directory.

  $ rmdir empty_directory
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Copying, Moving, and Renaming

  • cp: Copy files or directories.

    • -r: Recursively copy directories.
    • -i: Prompt before overwriting files. 
    $ cp source.txt destination.txt
$ cp -ri source_directory/ destination_directory/

  • mv: Move or rename files or directories.

    • -i: Prompt before overwriting files. 
    $ mv -i oldname.txt newname.txt

Listing and Navigating

  • ls: List directory contents.

    • -l: Display in long format.
    • -a: Show hidden files.
    • -h: Display sizes in human-readable format. 
    $ ls -lah

  • pwd: Print the current working directory.

  $ pwd
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  • cd: Change the current directory. 
  $ cd /path/to/directory/
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File Content Viewing

  • cat: Display the entire content of a file. 
  $ cat file.txt
  This is the content of file.txt.
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  • less: View file content with pagination. No direct output, but provides an interactive view. 
  $ less file.txt
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  • head: Display the beginning of a file. 
  $ head file.txt
  First line of the file.
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  • tail: Display the end of a file.

    • -f: Follow the content of a file in real-time. 
    $ tail -f /var/log/syslog
Aug 11 12:34:56 hostname program[1234]: Log message here.

File and Directory Information

  • stat: Display detailed information about a file or directory. 
  $ stat file.txt
  File: file.txt
  Size: 1234       Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   regular file
  Device: 801h/2049d      Inode: 123456      Links: 1
  Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--)  Uid: ( 1000/    user)   Gid: ( 1000/    user)
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  • file: Determine the type of a file. 
  $ file image.jpg
  image.jpg: JPEG image data, JFIF standard 1.01
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Searching for Files

  • find: Search for files in a directory hierarchy. 
  $ find /path/to/search/ -name "pattern*"
  /path/to/search/pattern1.txt
  /path/to/search/subdir/pattern2.txt
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