BeginnerLesson 3 of 5 · 1 min read

Creating and Manipulating Files

touch, mkdir, cp, mv, rm - the core file operations.

In this lesson you'll learn the everyday verbs for working with files and directories.

Make

mkdir projects          # create a directory
mkdir -p a/b/c          # create nested directories (-p = parents)
touch notes.txt         # create an empty file (or update timestamp)

Inspect

cat notes.txt           # print file contents
less notes.txt          # page through a file (q to quit)
head -n 5 notes.txt     # first 5 lines
wc -l notes.txt         # count lines

Move / copy / delete

cp notes.txt copy.txt        # copy
mv notes.txt renamed.txt     # rename / move
rm renamed.txt               # delete a file
rm -r projects               # delete a directory recursively

Warning: rm is permanent. There is no recycle bin. Triple-check before running rm -rf /.

Edit

You'll often edit files straight from the terminal:

nano notes.txt - beginner-friendly editor
vim notes.txt - powerful but steep learning curve

Your notes

Notes are kept on this browser only.

Challenge

Create a new directory called `lab` and then create an empty file `lab/notes.txt` inside it. Do it in two commands.

Need a nudge?

Tip: type the command in the sandbox on the right, or paste the solution here. The sandbox runs in real time.

Quiz

Answer these to lock in the concepts. Score at least 80% to mark the lesson complete.

01What flag on `mkdir` creates nested directories?
02Which command deletes an empty file?

Mark as complete

Skipped the challenge? You can mark this lesson done by hand.