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pwd - Display name of current directory
The command >pwd is used to display the full path name of the current directory.
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cd - Switch to another directory
To switch to another directory, the command cd is used.
| Examples |
What it does |
| cd |
Will place you in your home directory |
| cd / |
Will move you to the root directory |
| cd /etc |
Will move you to the /etc directory |
| cd ../ |
Will move you back one directory |
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mkdir and rmdir - Create/Delete directories
The command mkdir is used to create a new directory.
The command rmdir or rm -r is used to delete a directory or
directories. Be careful in testing the following
delete commands. You will probably want to create sample directories first.
| Examples |
What it does |
| mkdir mydirectory |
Will create a new directory named 'mydirectory' |
| rmdir existingdirectory |
Will delete the existing directory named 'existingdirectory' |
| rm -r existingdirectories |
Will delete the existing directory named 'existingdirectories'
and all directories and files below it. |
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ls - List the Contents of a directory
The command ls is used to the contents of a directory.
| Options |
What it does |
| -l |
long listing |
| -R |
list current directory and all other directories within current directory |
| -a |
list hidden files |
| -CF |
list in column format and append '*' to executable files,
'@' to symbolic linked files, '/' to directories |
| -r |
list in reverse alphabetically order |
| -t |
list more recent accessed files first |
| filename(s) |
Values to match |
| Examples |
What it does |
| ls |
only
list file/directory names in current directory |
| ls -l |
list all file/directory information in current directory(long version) |
| ls -R |
list all files in current directories and below |
| ls -lt |
list all files, sorted by most recent accessed first |
| ls -lt /etc/rc* |
list files in the '/etc/ directory, only starting with 'rc' and
sort results by most recent |
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Wildcards
Wildcard characters are used to help find file or directory names
| Options |
What it does |
| * |
asterisk symbol is used to represent anycharacter(s) |
| ? |
question mark is used to represent any single character |
| [from-to ] |
Values entered within square brackets represent a range
(from-to) for a single character |
| [!from-to ] |
Values entered within square brackets represent a range
(from-to) to exclude for a single character |
| Examples |
What it does |
| a* |
all files starting with the letter 'a' |
| *z |
all files where the last character is a 'z' |
| a*m |
all files that start with the letter 'a' and end with 'm' |
| th?? |
all files that start with 'th' and are only four characters long |
| [a-c]* |
all files that start with 'a, b or c' |
| x[A-C]* |
all files that start with the letter 'x' and the second character
contains 'A, B or C' |
| [!M-O]* |
all files except those that start with 'M, N or O' |
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cp - Copy files
To copy a file, the command cp is used
Example:cp oldfile myfile - Will
copy the existing file 'oldfile' to a new file 'myfile'
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mv - Rename files
The command mv is used to rename a file
Example:
mv myfile yourfile - Will rename the file 'myfile' to 'yourfile'
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rm - Delete files
| Examples |
What it does |
| rm myfile |
remove the file 'myfile' |
| rm -i abc* |
prompt to remove each file in current directory starting with 'abc' |
| rm abc* |
remove all files in current directory starting with 'abc' automatically |
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wc
- Count the number of lines or characters
The command wc is used to count lines, words or characters in a file
or piped results from another command.
| Options |
What it does |
| -c |
Number of characters |
| -w |
Number of words |
| -l |
|
| filename |
file name(s) to use |
| Examples |
What it does |
| wc /etc/sendmail.cf |
Lists the number of lines, words and characters in the file 'sendmail.cf' |
| ls /etc | wc -l |
Lists the number of files and directories in the directory 'etc' |
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