Manage Directories and Files in Linux

Objectives

• Understand the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

(FHS)
• Identify File Types in the Linux System
• Change Directories and List Directory Contents
• Create and View Files
• Manage Files and Directories
• Find Files
• Search File Content
• Archive, Back up, Compress, and Decompress Files

Understand the Filesystem Hierarchy

Standard (FHS)
• The file system concept of Linux (and, in general, of
all UNIX systems) is considerably different than that
of other operating systems
• To understand the concept of the Linux file system,
you need to know the following:
– The Hierarchical Structure of the File System
– FHS (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard)
– Root Directory /
– Essential Binaries for Use by All Users (/bin/)
– Boot Directory (/boot/)
3

1
 Understand the FHS (continued)
• To understand the concept of the Linux file system,
you need to know the following (continued):
– Device Files (/dev/)
– Configuration Files (/etc/)
– User Directories (/home/)
– Libraries (/lib/)
– Mount Points for Removable Media (/media/*)
– Application Directory (/opt/)
– Home Directory of the Administrator (/root/)
– System Binaries (/sbin/)
– Data Directories for Services (/srv/)

Understand the FHS (continued)

• To understand the concept of the Linux file system,

you need to know the following (continued):
– Temporary Area (/tmp/)
– The Hierarchy below /usr/
– Variable Files (/var/)
– Process Files (/proc/)
– System Information Directory (/sys/)
– Mount Point for Temporarily Mounted File Systems
(/mnt/)
– Directories for Mounting Other File Systems

The Hierarchical Structure of the File

System

2
 The Hierarchical Structure of the File
System (continued)

FHS (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard)

• The structure of the file system is described in the
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS)
– It specifies which directories must be located on the
first level after the root directory and what they
contain
– It does not specify all details
• FHS defines a two-layered hierarchy
– The directories in the top layer (immediately below
the root directory “/”)
– As a second layer, the directories under /usr/ and
/var/

Root Directory /

• The root directory refers to the highest layer of the

file system tree
• Only directories are located here, not files
• When the system is booted, the partition on which
this directory is located is the first one mounted
• All programs that are run on the system start must
be available on this partition
• The following directories always have to be on the
same partition as the root directory:
– /bin/, /dev/, /etc/, /lib/, and /sbin/

3
Essential Binaries for Use by All Users
(/bin/)

10

Boot Directory (/boot/)

• /boot/ contains static files of the boot loader

– These are files required for the boot process (with
the exception of configuration files)
• The backed-up information for the Master Boot
Record (MBR) and the system map files are also
stored here
– These contain information about where exactly the
kernel is located on the partition
• This directory also contains the kernel
– According to FHS, the kernel can also be located
directly in the root directory
11

Device Files (/dev/)

• Each hardware component existing in the system is
represented as a file in /dev/
• The hardware components are addressed via these files by
writing or reading to or from one of the files.
• Two types of Device Files Exist:
– Character special files (or character devices)
• ‘talks’ to device character-by-character (1 byte at a time)
• Examples: printer, virtual terminals, serial devices
– Block special files (or block devices)
• ‘talks’ to device 1 block at a time (1 block can be 512bytes
to 312KB)
• Examples: Hard disk, floppy disk, CD burners.

12

4
Device Files (/dev/, continued)

13

Device Files (/dev/, continued)

14

Configuration Files (/etc/)

15

5
 User Directories (/home/)

• Every user on a Linux system has his own area in

which to create and remove files: its home directory
• Individual configuration files can be found in the
user’s home directory

• If there are no special settings, the home

directories of all users are located beneath /home/
• The home directory of a user be addressed via “~”
16

Libraries (/lib/)

• Shared libraries are removed from the actual

program, stored in the system, and only called up
when the program runs
• The directory /lib/ contains the libraries that are
used by programs in the directories /bin/ and /sbin/
• The kernel modules (hardware drivers not compiled
into the kernel) are located in the directory
/lib/modules/
• You can find additional libraries below the directory
/usr/

17

Mount Points for Removable Media

(/media/*)
• SUSE Linux creates directories such as the
following in the directory /media/ (depending on
your hardware) for mounting removable media:
– /media/cdrom/
– /media/cdrecorder/
– /media/dvd/
– /media/floppy/

18

6
 Application Directory (/opt/)

• Installed programs can store their static files in the

directory /opt/
– First, a directory with the name of the application is
created
– The files are then stored in that directory
• Examples include GNOME (/opt/gnome/) and
KDE3 (/opt/kde3/)

19

Home Directory of the Administrator

(/root/)
• The home directory of the system administrator is
not located beneath /home/ like that of a normal
user
• Preferably, it should be on the same partition as
the root directory,“/”
– Only then is it guaranteed that the user root can
always log in without a problem and have her own
configured environment available

20

System Binaries (/sbin/)

• Contains important system administration programs

• Programs in /sbin/ can also, as a rule, be run by
normal users, but only to display configured values

21

7
 System Binaries (/sbin/, continued)

22

Data Directories for Services (/srv/)

• The directory /srv/ contains subdirectories filled

with data of various services
• For example:
– The files of the Apache web server are located in the
directory /srv/www/
– The FTP server files are located in the directory
/srv/ftp/

23

Temporary Area (/tmp/)

• Various programs create temporary files that are

stored in /tmp/ until they are deleted

The Hierarchy below /usr/

• According with the FHS, represents a second

hierarchical layer

24

8
The Hierarchy below /usr/ (continued)

25

Variable Files (/var/)

• Contains a hierarchy described in the FHS

• This directory and its subdirectories contain files
that can be modified while the system is running

26

Variable Files (/var/, continued)

27

9
 System Information Directory (/sys/)

• The directory /sys/ provides information in the form

of a tree structure on various hardware buses,
hardware devices, active devices, and their drivers

28

Mount Point for Temporarily Mounted

File Systems (/mnt/)
• Standard directory for integrating file systems
– It should only be used for temporary purposes
– da10:~ # mount /dev/hda7 /mnt
– da10:~ # umount /mnt
• If you do not include any options with mount, the
program tries out several file system formats
• To specify a specific file system, use the option -t
– If the file system format is not supported by the
kernel, the command is aborted, and you receive an
error message
– In this case, you must compile a new kernel that
supports the file system format
29

Directories for Mounting Other File

Systems
• A directory must exist at the point where you intend
to mount the file system
– This directory is referred to as the mount point
• In most cases, only the user root can mount and
unmount directories
– Use mount and umount
• If you mount a file system to a non-empty directory,
existing contents of directory will not be accessible
• Mounted file system does not have to be on a local
hard disk

30

10
 Directories for Mounting Other File
Systems (continued)
• The directories listed below cannot be imported
from other machines

• Some of the directories that can be shared are:

31

Automated Mounting of Removable Media

• In past versions of Linux, it was necessary to

mount removable media with some command to
access them and to unmount them afterwards
• This has been automated in current kernel versions

32

11