Using Linux - Files and Directories
This page is a part of the Linux and CS Systems Bootcamp. This page assumes you have your computer setup to connect to the CS server, or have the appropriate software installed on your computer to run commands. Go back to the Linux and CS Systems Bootcamp main page if you don't have our system setup yet.
Basic Commands
With the terminal you can create, copy, move, and delete files and directories. The following are the most important commands to do this.
- cd - change directory
- mkdir - make a new directory
- ls - list directory contents
- cp - copy files
- rm - remove files (be careful, there is no recycle bin or trash - once you delete, it's gone)
- rmdir - remove directory
- mv - move or rename a file or directory
- nano - simple text editor
Sample Session
Here is a transcript of the use of these commands on the CS server, showing how they work and what is printed on the screen. Note that the part after the "cs299@cs:~> " is the part that was typed by the user - so the user first typed "pwd" and then enter, the system printed "/u1/class/cs299", and the system then printed the prompt "cs299@cs:~> " and waited for the user to type the next command. You can also watch a [video demo].
cs299@cs:~> pwd /u1/class/cs299 cs299@cs:~> mkdir new-dir1 cs299@cs:~> mkdir new-dir2 cs299@cs:~> nano hello.txt cs299@cs:~> ls bin/ hello.txt new-dir1/ new-dir2/ proto/ cs299@cs:~> cp hello.txt new-dir1 cs299@cs:~> cp hello.txt new-dir2/hello2.txt cs299@cs:~> ls new-dir1 hello.txt cs299@cs:~> ls new-dir2 hello2.txt cs299@cs:~> mv new-dir2 new-dir3 cs299@cs:~> ls bin/ hello.txt new-dir1/ new-dir3/ proto/ cs299@cs:~> rm hello.txt cs299@cs:~> ls bin/ new-dir1/ new-dir3/ proto/ cs299@cs:~> rmdir new-dir3 rmdir: failed to remove 'new-dir3': Directory not empty cs299@cs:~> rm new-dir3/hello2.txt cs299@cs:~> rmdir new-dir3 cs299@cs:~> ls bin/ new-dir1/ proto/
