4. Files and Directories

• extension is not needed

• .myfile - hidden, if name starts with dot

• .mydirectory/ - hidden, if name starts with dot

• / - root dir

• . - current dir

• .. - upper dir

4.1. Change Directory

• cd

• cd /absolute/path

• cd relative/path

• cd ~

• cd -

• cd ..

4.2. List Files and Directories

• ls

• ls /absolute/path

• ls relative/path

• ls -lah

• alias l='ls -lAh --color=auto'

4.3. Files

Table 4.1. Files

Command	Type	Description
sum		checksum and count the blocks in a file
vi		Vi IMproved, a programmer's text editor
vim		Vi IMproved, a programmer's text editor
vimdiff		edit between two and eight versions of a file with Vim and show differences
wc -c		print number of characters in file
wc -l		print number of lines in file
wc		print newline, word, and byte counts for each file
egrep		print lines that match patterns
cut		remove sections from each line of files
head		output the first part of files
hexdump		display file contents in hexadecimal, decimal, octal, or ascii
grep		print lines that match patterns
join		join lines of two files on a common field
diff		compare files line by line
split		split a file into pieces
view		Vi IMproved, a programmer's text editor
strings		print the sequences of printable characters in files
write		write to a file descriptor
uniq		report or omit repeated lines
sort		sort lines of text files
pico		Nano's ANOther editor, inspired by Pico
open		open and possibly create a file
read		read from a file descriptor
puts		output of characters and strings
readline	(3readline)	get a line from a user with editing
cat		concatenate files and print on the standard output
dd		convert and copy a file
ed		line-oriented text editor
edit
encguess		guess character encodings of files
file		determine file type
file		overview of system data types
more		file perusal filter for crt viewing
nano		Nano's ANOther editor, inspired by Pico
setcap		set file capabilities
tail -f
tail		output the last part of files
tailf
tee		read from standard input and write to standard output and files
tee		duplicating pipe content
tempfile		create a temporary file in a safe manner
unlink		call the unlink function to remove the specified file
unlink		delete a name and possibly the file it refers to
patch		apply a diff file to an original

4.4. Directories

Table 4.2. Directories

Command	Type	Description
chroot		change root directory
chroot		run command or interactive shell with special root directory
mkdir		make directories
mkdir		create a directory
rmdir		remove empty directories
rmdir		delete a directory

4.5. Files and Directories

Table 4.3. Files and Directories

Command	Type	Description
mc		Midnight Commander
cd		Change directory
chattr		change file attributes on a Linux file system
chgrp		change group ownership
chmod		change file mode bits
chmod		change permissions of a file
chown		change file owner and group
chown		change ownership of a file
cp		copy files and directories
cpio		copy files to and from archives
dir		list directory contents
dirname		strip last component from file name
dirname		parse pathname components
du -hs
du		estimate file space usage
find		search for files in a directory hierarchy
l
la
less		opposite of more
ll
ln -s
ln		make links between files
locate		Locates file (from updatedb database)
ls		list directory contents
lsattr		list file attributes on a Linux second extended file system
mv		move (rename) files
pwd		print name of current/working directory
rcp		OpenSSH secure file copy
rm -fr
rm		Remove
rm		remove files or directories
rsync		Syncronizes two directories
rsync		a fast, versatile, remote (and local) file-copying tool
scp		OpenSSH secure file copy
shred		overwrite a file to hide its contents, and optionally delete it
size		list section sizes and total size of binary files
stat		display file or file system status
touch		change file timestamps
tree		list contents of directories in a tree-like format.
umask		set file mode creation mask
updatedb		Scans filesystem and create database for locate