UNIX / LINUX FILE MANAGEMENT

Main Objectives of this Practice Tutorial

Understand the Purpose of the Unix / Linux Directory Structure.

List Common Directories that are Contained in a Typical Unix / Linux Filesystem

Use Common Unix / Linux Commands to Perform Directory Management Tasks.

Use Common Unix / Linux Commands to Perform Text File Management Tasks.

Using Text Editors to Create and Manipulate Text Files

Tutorial Reference Material

Course Notes

Linux Command/Shortcut Reference

YouTube Videos

Course Notes:

PDF | PPTX

Tutorials:

Directory and File Management Commands

Text File Management Commands

Text Editors

vi
nano

Brauer Instructional Videos:

Basic File Actions
(touch, ls -l, cp, cp -r, mv, mkdir, mkdir -p, rm, rmdir, rm -r)

Unix / Linux Directory Concepts

In Unix / Linux (as opposed to MS Windows), there are no drive letters (such as C:, or D:).

All files and directories appear under a single ancestor directory called "the root directory".

A path points to a file system location by following the directory tree hierarchy expressed in a string of characters in which path components, separated by a delimiting character, represent each directory. The delimiting character is most commonly the slash ("/").

The Unix/Linux file system is hierarchical, similar to other operating systems such as
Windows, Mac OSX, etc. Files are organized in directories. Directories may contain sub-directories.

In Unix / Linux (as opposed to MS Windows), there are no drive letters (such as C:, or D:). All files and directories appear under a single ancestor directory called the "root directory".

Learning how to issue Linux commands for navigating the Linux filesystem and manipulating directory and files are essential skills for Linux users and administrators.

In the Linux (Unix) OS, the "root directory" / is the starting directory, and other "child directories", "grandchild directories", etc. are created The hierarchical structure resembles an "upside- down tree". There is actually a command called tree that can display a "tree diagram"!

Pathnames

A path, the general form of the name of a file or directory, specifies a unique location in a file system. A path points to a file system location by following the directory tree hierarchy expressed in a string of characters in which path components, separated by a delimiting character, represent each directory. The delimiting character is most commonly the slash ("/").

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_(computing)

The following table displays and defines commonly used directories
(listed by directory pathname) for for ALL Unix / Linux Filesystems:

Please take a few moments to review these pathnames.

Commonly used directories (listed by directory pathname)
for for ALL Unix / Linux Filesystems.

Directory Pathname	Purpose
/	Root directory (ancestor to all directories)
/home	Used to store users’ home directories
/home/username	A Particular User's Home Directory
/bin	Common system binaries (commands)
/usr/bin	Common utilities (commands) for users.
/usr/sbin	Common utilities for system administration
/etc	System administration files (eg. passwd)
/var	Dynamic files (log and mail files)
/tmp , /var/tmp	Temporary files for programs
/dev	Device driver files (terminals, printers, etc.)

Every user when receiving an account has a “home” directory created (/home/userid). This is where the user keep subdirectories and personal files.

We will now learn to create and manage subdirectories within your own home directory.

INVESTIGATION 1: MANAGING DIRECTORIES

In this investigation, you will learn to manage directories including their creation, navigation, listing contents and removal.

Part 1: Creating / Removing Directories

Tree Diagram of Directory Structure to Create in your Home Directory (displayed in blue text).

Creating subdirectories within your home directory makes it more efficient to save and access files on your Linux server.

A comparison would be rooms in a house. If there were no rooms, just one large room in a 3,000 square foot house, it would be "messy" and difficult to locate items. Each room in a house is used to for a specific purpose to be more productive to perform a task such as a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc.

You would like to create a directory structure within your home directory as displayed in the diagram on the right aide.

You should note from the previous section that the root directory is the
"starting point" in the Matrix file system, that the home directory is used to store all Matrix user accounts by their userid, and that your userid contained within the home directory represents YOUR home directory where you can create files (both directory files, text files, etc).