Lab 3 CLI Utilities with Files & Directories

Background

Experience running commands working with files and directories.

System Setup

Prerequisites:

• A hypervisor with a guest running Fedora Server 32 or 33

Reference: List of Commands

man

ls, ls l, ls a

touch (create a new empty file)

cat (display file content)

more (display file content by screens)

less (similar to command more, but could go back and forth: next page using f, previous page using b, quit using q)

cd, cd .., cd ~ (go to /home/username directory), cd (go to previous location),

cd / cd /root, cd /home

mkdir

rm, rm r

mv : move or rename a file

mv source destination

cp : copy a file

vi

Note: Commands are listed between [ ] to easily identify them. Do not type [ ] when running commands.

Part I: Creating a directory tree and files

1. Log in using your non-root account.
2. Use [pwd], check what is your current directory path _____________________. If it is not your home directory, then use [cd ~] to go back. Check with [pwd] again.

Prepare to back up your directory tree that is to be created:

3. Create a new directory called `dirbak under /tmp by entering [mkdir /tmp/dirbak].
4. In previous step, make sure you create the directory starting with a /, which is /tmp/dirbak, not tmp/dirbak. If you are unsure about this, check with instructor.

(For your information, /tmp directory is writable to every user. We will create a backup of your directory tree there.)

5. Create a directory tree with files:

Go to your home directory by entering [cd ~]. Create directories and files as shown below:

1. Copy/backup this directory tree by enter [cp r ~/* /tmp/dirbak/]. The * is a wildcard that represent anything. r means recursive. This command copies everything under your home directory to /tmp/dirbak/.

2. Verify the copy is successful by going to /tmp/dirbak/ and check that the directories and files are there.

Part II: Moving and Renaming Files

1. Change to the munich subdirectory under your home directory.

2. List the files and subdirectories in ~/munich by entering [ls F ]

Check the man page of ls, what is F for?

____________________________________________________________________

3. Enter [mv sales munsls]

4. Enter [ls F] to list the contents of your current working directory, ~/munich.

Notice that the sales file is no longer listed.

5. Change to the ~/munich/munsls directory and verify that sales has been moved here.

6. Enter [mv sales munsls], and then do a directory listing.

Compare what happened with the results of step 3. What is the difference between the two

[mv sales munsls] commands that are in step 3 and step 6?

7. Now, let's try moving a file to your current working directory. Change to your ~/munich directory, and then enter [mv munsls/munsls sales]. This will move the file you've been working with and rename it back to sales.

Check that the file is no longer in munich/munsls and that sales is in your ~/munich directory.

Part III: Removing Files and Directories

1. Change to the ~/munich directory, and then display a recursive directory listing [ls R]. There are three directories and one file in the munich directory. The mnprs directory contains files and the munsls and pers directories are empty.

2. Enter [rmdir munsls]

Were you able to delete this directory? Why or why not?

3. Enter [rmdir munprs]

Were you able to delete this directory? Why or why not?

4. Enter [rm -ri munprs] to interactively delete the munprs directory and all subdirectories and files in it. Respond with y at each prompt.

Verify that the directory and all its contents were removed (ls -R ~/munich).

5. Log out.

Your currently directory should be: /home/your_username calgary london munich pers sales calprs lancs lasis lones longis nyers nysis Lonsi calmi calm2 calpi calp2 lam1 pers lonmi lonm2 lonpi lonp2 nys1 nys2 nys 3 muner munsis ales perse nyp1 nyp2 nyp3 nypd nyps nymi nym2 nym3 nym munpi munp2 I Your currently directory should be: /home/your_username calgary london munich pers sales calprs lancs lasis lones longis nyers nysis Lonsi calmi calm2 calpi calp2 lam1 pers lonmi lonm2 lonpi lonp2 nys1 nys2 nys 3 muner munsis ales perse nyp1 nyp2 nyp3 nypd nyps nymi nym2 nym3 nym munpi munp2