Chapter 4 Accessing Files and Directories

Path Names

A path name represents the route through the hierarchy that is traversed to reach the desired file or directory

Types of Pathnames
Absolute Pathname
Specifies the entire file hierarchy Start at root (/) and list each directory along the path to the destination Slash (/) between each directory name in the path Example: /home/user3/f1

Relative Pathname
Always starts at your current location in the hierarchy If a pathname does not begin with a slash, it is a relative pathname you must know what directory you are currently in since that is your starting point

Absolute Path

Absolute Path
Absolute pathname to the user2 directory /home/user2 Absolute pathname to the dir1 directory /home/user2/dir1 Absolute pathname to the coffees directory /home/user2/dir1/coffees

Relative Path

Relative Path
If your current directory is /home: Relative pathname to the user2 directory user2 Relative pathname to the dir1 directory user2/dir1 Relative pathname to the coffees directory user2/dir1/coffees

Some Special Directories

Absolute /home /home/user2 /home/user1/f1 / Relative to /home/user3 .. ../user2 ../user1/f1 ../..

The entry called dot(.) represents your current directory position The entry called dot dot(..) represents the directory immediately above your current directory position

Examples of DOT
If you are currently in the directory /home/user3: . ./f1 ./memo/f1

Examples of dot dot

If you are currently in the directory /home: .. ../.. ../tmp ../tmp/f1

If you are currently in the directory /home/user3: .. ../.. ../user2../user1/f1 ../../tmp/f1

Using Navigation Shortcuts

pwd (print working directory) command no options or arguments

displays directory using absolute path name

cd (change directory) command used with absolute or relative pathnames to navigate by itself takes you to your home directory cd .. command takes you up one level cd ~/ command takes you to a directory under your home directory (tilde = home)

cd- Change Directory

Syntax: cd [dir-pathname]

Examples:
$ pwd

/home/user3
$ cd memo; pwd /home/user3/memo $ cd .. /..; pwd

Using ls Command
ls
(list) listing of files and directories within the current directory or specified directories

ls a
list all files in a directory, including hidden (.) files and current (.) and parent (..) directories

ls F
displays listing with a symbol to tell what the type the file is: directory A forward slash (/) after the name ASCII Text File - no symbol Executable asterisk (*) after the name Symbolic Link An at sign (@)

Displaying Long Listing

Recursive Listing

ls -R (recursive) command
- Displays the contents of all directories, subdirectories and their contents for a particular part of the directory tree - If done at a high level in the directory structure, the output can be substantial!

Creating & Removing Files & Directories

mkdir - creates directories or folders
must have the appropriate permissions to create a directory p (parent) option creates parent directories while creating lower level directories, including all the directories in a pathname

rm

- removes a single file or multiple files specify their names or use wildcard metacharacters (*) (?) files that are deleted are permanent and cannot be recovered! rm -i (interactive) - prompts the user before removing files

rm r (recursive) - removes directories

removes the directory including all subdirectories and files in it! rm -ri (or rm -ir) - removes directories interactively

mkdir and rmdir create and remove directories

Syntax:

mkdir [-p] dir_pathname (s) rmdir dir_pathname (s)

Example:

$ pwd $ mkdir fruit $ mkdir fruit/apple $ cd fruit $ mkdir grape orange $ rmdir orange $ cd .. $ rmdir fruit $ rmdir fruit/apple fruit/grape fruit

Chapter 5 Basic Directory and File Management

Command Line Control Characters

What can we do with files?

ls cat more -look at the characteristics of a file -look at the contents of a file -look at the contents of a file, one screenful at a time

lp cp mv
mv ln rm

-print a file -make a copy of a file -change the name of a file or directory -move a file to another directory -create another name for a file -remove a file

cat more head tail Commands

head
displays the first n lines first 10 lines are displayed by default if the -n option is omitted.

tail
displays the last n lines of a file last 10 lines are displayed by default if the -n option is omitted. allows you to check the end result of the backup without looking at the whole file -n option allows you to start displaying lines from a specific point in a file

wc and diff Commands

wc (word count) command
displays line, word, byte or character counts for a text file without options will give a line, word, and byte count of the contents of the file Option Function -l Counts lines -w Counts words -c Counts bytes -m Counts characters

diff (difference) command compares two text files and finds

differences Command Format: $ diff [option] file1 file2 i option ignores the case of the letters c option performs a detailed comparison and produces a listing of differences with three lines of context

Copy Files
Syntax: cp [-i] file1 new_file cp [-i] file [file] dest_dir cp r [-i] dir [dir] dest_dir

Examples: $ ls F $ cp f1 f1.copy $ ls F $ cp note remind memo

Move or Rename Files

Syntax: mv [-i] file1 new_file mv [-i] file [file] dest_dir mv [-i] dir [dir] dest_dir Examples: ls F mv f1 file1 ls F mv f2 memo/file2 ls F ls F memo

diff Output

Link Files
Syntax: ln file new_file ln file [file. . .] dest_dir Example: $ ls l f1 $ ln f1 /home/user2/f1.link $ ls l f1

$ ls l /home/user2
$ ls i /home/user2/f1.link