2.4 Creating, Moving and Deleting Files

2.4 Creating, Moving and Deleting Files

Quick Answer: Build with touch and mkdir (mkdir -p for nested paths). Duplicate with cp / cp -r. Rename or relocate with mv. Remove files with rm, trees with rm -r, and empty folders with rmdir. Linux names are case-sensitive, and shell globs (*, ?, [ ]) expand before the command runs.

Objective 2.4 turns navigation into file operations: create, rearrange, delete, and select names with globs—remembering File and file are different.

Case Sensitivity

On a typical Linux filesystem, names are case-sensitive:

touch Report.txt
touch report.txt
ls

You now have two files. Commands looking for REPORT.txt fail unless that exact spelling exists—a frequent Essentials trap.

Creating Files With touch

touch notes.txt
touch a.txt b.txt c.txt

• If the name does not exist, touch creates an empty file.
• If it already exists, touch updates timestamps and leaves content unchanged.
• touch does not open an editor; it only creates or refreshes metadata.

Creating Directories With mkdir

mkdir reports
mkdir drafts archive        # multiple directories at once
mkdir -p labs/linux/010     # create missing parents

Plain mkdir labs/linux/010 fails if labs or linux is missing. mkdir -p creates each missing component and does not fail merely because the final directory already exists. Use -p whenever you build nested lab trees in one step.

Copying With cp

cp notes.txt notes.bak
cp notes.txt ~/backup/
cp file1.txt file2.txt dest_dir/
cp -r project project-copy

Without -r (or -R), cp refuses to copy a directory. Recursive copy duplicates the tree; the original remains. Useful companion flags: -i (prompt before overwrite), -v (verbose). If the destination file name already exists, cp typically overwrites it when permissions allow unless you add -i or -n.

Moving and Renaming With mv

mv both renames and moves:

mv draft.txt final.txt           # rename in place
mv report.pdf ~/Documents/       # move into a directory
mv a.txt b.txt archive/          # move several items

If the destination is an existing directory, sources go into it. If it is an existing file name, mv overwrites by default (-i prompts). A successful mv does not leave a duplicate at the old path—use cp when you need to keep the original.

Deleting With rm and rmdir

Remove files: rm

rm notes.txt
rm a.txt b.txt
rm *.tmp

rm deletes files. If you pass a directory without a recursive flag, it errors instead of removing the folder.

Remove trees: rm -r

rm -r old-lab
rm -ri old-lab      # recursive but interactive prompts
rm -rf old-lab      # recursive + force: powerful and dangerous

-r / -R deletes a directory and everything inside. Adding -f skips most prompts. Preview with ls (and ls -a if hidden names matter) before recursive deletes—there is no trash can in the classic CLI model.

Empty directories only: rmdir

rmdir empty-folder

rmdir succeeds only when the directory contains nothing (hidden files also block it). If it fails as not empty, clear contents first or deliberately use rm -r after confirming.

Simple Globbing: *, ?, and [ ]

Globbing turns patterns into matching filenames before the command runs. This is not the same as regular expressions used later with grep.

Examples in a directory with notes.txt, notes.bak, a.png, b.png, and .secret:

ls *.txt            # notes.txt
ls notes.*          # notes.txt notes.bak
ls ?.png            # a.png b.png
ls chap[12].md      # chap1.md chap2.md if those exist
ls *                # visible names only — .secret omitted
ls .*               # patterns that start with . can match hidden names

Critical rule: A bare * does not match a leading dot. Hidden files need a pattern that begins with ., or ls -a—not a bare star. Preview with ls PATTERN before rm PATTERN. Quote to pass a literal metacharacter: ls '*.txt'.

Worked Scenario: Build, Copy, Move, Clean

cd ~
mkdir -p lab/docs lab/data
touch lab/docs/readme.txt lab/data/sample.csv
cp lab/docs/readme.txt lab/docs/readme.bak
cp -r lab lab-backup
mv lab/data/sample.csv lab/docs/
rm lab/docs/readme.bak
rmdir lab/data          # succeeds only if data is empty
rm -r lab-backup

Case sensitivity: touch Todo.txt then rm todo.txt fails—the real name is still Todo.txt. Globbing: rm f?.log removes f1.log and f2.log but not f10.log, because ? matches exactly one character.

Command Summary for Objective 2.4

Practice building a tiny tree, copying it, renaming, then removing a backup with rm -r—those patterns map to objective 2.4.