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Creating, Copying & Deleting Files

Do real work on the filesystem — make folders and files, copy and move and rename them, delete safely, use wildcards to act on many files at once, and bundle a folder into a single compressed archive.

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Make folders and files

mkdir ("make directory") creates folders; -p creates a whole nested path in one go and never complains if it already exists. touch creates an empty file (or updates a file's timestamp if it already exists) — handy for quickly making a file to work with.

Create a folder

mkdir project

Create a nested path in one step (-p makes every missing level)

mkdir -p project/src/components

Create empty files

touch project/README.md project/src/app.js

Copy files and folders

cp ("copy") duplicates a file: cp source destination. Copying a whole folder needs -r ("recursive") so it descends into everything inside. The original is left untouched — you end up with two copies.

Copy one file to a new name

cp project/README.md project/README.bak

Copy a file into another folder (keeps the same name)

cp project/README.md /tmp/

Copy an entire folder and everything in it (-r = recursive)

cp -r project project-copy

Move and rename

Linux has no separate "rename" command — moving and renaming are the same operation, mv. mv old new gives a file a new name; mv file folder/ moves it somewhere else. Unlike cp, the original does not stay behind.

Rename a file (move it to a new name in the same folder)

mv project/README.bak project/OLD-README.md

Move a file into another folder

mv project/OLD-README.md /tmp/

Rename a folder

mv project-copy project-archive

Delete — carefully

rm ("remove") deletes files permanently — there is no recycle bin, so a deleted file is gone. rm -r deletes a folder and everything in it. Be deliberate: double-check the path before you press Enter, especially with -r. rmdir is the safe alternative for a folder you believe is already empty — it refuses to delete one that is not.

Delete a single file (permanent — no trash)

rm /tmp/README.md

Delete a folder and everything inside it (-r = recursive)

rm -r project-archive

Remove an empty folder only — fails safely if it isn't empty

rmdir project/src/components

Act on many files at once with wildcards

The shell expands wildcard patterns before the command runs, so you can target many files at once. * matches any run of characters, ? matches exactly one, and [...] matches any one character in the set. Tip: run ls with your pattern first to preview exactly what it will hit before you copy or delete.

Preview first: every .js file in the current folder

ls *.js

Every file starting with "app"

ls app*

All log files, then a single-character match: file1, file2 ...

ls *.log

ls file?.txt

Bundle a folder into one archive

tar packs a whole folder into a single file (a "tarball"), and can compress it at the same time — perfect for backups or sending a project somewhere. Read the flags as a sentence: -c create, -z gzip-compress, -v verbose (list files), -f name the file. Swap -c for -x to extract it back out, and -t to peek inside without unpacking.

Create a compressed archive of the project folder

tar -czvf project.tar.gz project/

List what's inside an archive without extracting it

tar -tzvf project.tar.gz

Extract it back out (-x = extract)

tar -xzvf project.tar.gz