Linux Fundamentals

• 1st Course in Linux Foundations Specialization

© LearnQuest 2015
2021
View, Create, Copy, Move and Remove Files
In the third module of this course, we will learn how to manage files
and directories in the Linux operating system.

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Learning Objectives
View, Create, Copy, Move and Remove Files

Upon completion of this module, learners will be able to:

• View and Create Files

• Copy and Move Files

• Remove Files

• Link Files and Directories

• Read File Portions

• Read Complete Files

• Find File Differences

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Lesson 1 In this lesson, we look at how to
View, Create, Copy, Move and
Handle Files and Remove Files
Directories

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ls Command Deep Dive (part I)
ls [options] [paths]

• -a: list all files including hidden files.

These are files that start with “.”.

• -A: list all files including hidden files

except for “.” and “..” – these refer to
the entries for the current directory, and
for the parent directory.

• -R: list all files recursively, descending

down the directory tree from the given
path.

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ls Command Deep Dive (part II)
• -l: list the files in long format i.e. with an
index number, owner name, group
name, size, and permissions.

• –o: list the files in long format but

without the group name.

• -g: list the files in long format but

without the owner name.

• -i: list the files along with their index

number.

• -s: list the files along with their size.

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ls Command Deep Dive (part III)
• -t: sort the list by time of modification,
with the newest at the top.

• -S: sort the list by size, with the largest at

the top.

• -r: reverse the sorting order.

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File Commands Review
• cat – list the contents of a file on the
standard output

• cp – copy files or directories

• mv – move or rename files or directories

• mkdir – create a new directory in the

current directory

• rm – remove file and directories

• Touch – update time and date of file

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Lesson 1
Review Touch command can create new
files

The ls command can show hidden

files

Many commands work with both

directories and files

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Lesson 2 In this lesson, we look at how you
can create links in the file system
Files and Directory Links that point to other files or
directories

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Hard Link
A file (or directory) with one index
(inode) number and at least two
different file names.

Filename1 -> inode #[] <- Filename2

Creating Hard Link
• Original file must exist prior to issuing the
command

• Linked file is created when command is

issued

• ln [originalfilename] [linkname]

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Soft Link
A file with different index (inode)
numbers. The soft link file points to
other file.

Filename1 inode #[] -> Filename2 inode #[]

Creating Soft Link
• Original file must exist prior to issuing the
command

• Linked file is created when command is

issued

• ln –s [originalfilename] [linkname]

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Lesson 2
Review If you delete the original file with a
hardlink, the link still works

If you delete the original file with a

softlink the link will be broken

You can link both files and folders

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Lesson 3 In this lesson, we look at how to
read complete and parts of files
Reading Files
from the Linux command line.

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Linux Text Files
Linux systems contain many text files.
They include

• configuration files

• log files

• data files

• plus, others

Understanding how to view these files

is an important skill.
Cat Command
List the contents of a file on the standard output

Example Usage:

• cat > filename creates a new file

• cat filename1 filename2>filename3 joins two files and stores the
output of them in a new file

Options:

• -n: number the output lines.

• -s: suppress repeated output lines that are empty.
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Pr Command
Displays two short text files at the same time. You
can quickly view the files side by side.

Example Usage:

• pr –m file1.txt file2.txt

Options:

• -m: print all files in parallel, one in each column.

• -l: set the page length.
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Grep Command

Help you find a file line (or lines) that contain certain text
strings.

Example Usage: grep -i aspen /etc/passwd

Options: -i: ignore case.

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Head Command

Displays the first 10 lines of a text file.

Example Usage:
•head –n 5 /etc/passwd

Options:
•-n: the number of file lines to display.
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Tail Command

Displays the last 10 lines of a text file.

Example Usage:
•tail –n 5 /etc/passwd

Options:
•-n: the number of file lines to display.
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Pager Commands
Example Usage:
One way to read through a large •less /etc/passwd
file’s text is by using a pager. A
pager utility allows you to view one
text page at a time and move
through the text at your own pace.
The two commonly used pagers
are the more and less utilities.

Options:
•Move forward one line: Down Arrow, Enter, e,
or j.
•Move backward one line: Up Arrow, y, or k.
•Move forward one page: Space bar or Page
Down.
•Move backward one page: Page Up or b.
•Scroll to the right: Right Arrow.
•Scroll to the left: Left Arrow.
•Jump to the top of the file: Home or g

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Lesson 3
Review Grep can find individual lines in a
text file

Head can show you n number of

rows from the top of a text file

Less is faster than more

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Lesson 4 In this lesson, we look at how to
Locate File Locations from the
Find and Compare Files Linux command line

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Diff Command
Make comparisons between two files, line by line.

Example Usage:

• diff file1.txt file2.txt

Options:

• -q: If files are different, issue a simple message expressing this.

• -r: Compare any subdirectories within the original directory tree,
and consecutively compare their contents and the subdirectories
as well
• -y: Display output in two columns.
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Which Command

Shows you the full path name of a shell command passed

as an argument. The which command is also handy for
quickly determining if a command is using an alias.

Example Usage:

• which diff
• /usr/bin/diff

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Locate Command
Example Usage:
• locate myProject.txt
This utility searches a database, • /home/aspeno/myProject.txt
mlocate.db, which is located in the
/var/lib/mlocate/ directory, to
determine if a particular file exists on
the local system.

Options:
• -b: Display only file names that match the
pattern and do not include any directory names
that match the pattern.
• -i: Ignore case in the pattern for matching file
names.
• -q: Do not display any error messages, such as
permission denied, when processing.
• -r: Use the regular expression, R, instead of the
pattern list to match file names.

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Find Command
Allows you to locate files based-on data, such as who owns the file, when the file was last
modified, permission set on the file, and so on.

Example Usage:

•find . -name "*.txt"

Options:

•-P: Never follow symbolic links. This is the default.

•-L: Follow symbolic links.
•-name pattern: Returns true if the base of a file name (the path with the leading directories removed) matches
shell pattern.
•-gid: Display names of files whose group id is equal to n.
•-perm: Display names of files whose permissions matches mode. Either octal or symbolic modes may be used.
•-size: Display names of files whose size matches n. Suffixes can be used to make the size more human readable,
such as G for gigabytes.
•-user: Display names of files whose owner is name.

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Lesson 4
Review Diff command can be used to
compare two files

Locate is a simple command to

discover the location of a file

The find command has much more

control than the simpler pinpoint
commands

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