Tutorial 2 - Unix / Linux File Management

UNIX / LINUX FILE MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS

Main Objectives of this Practice Tutorial

• Understand the purpose of directories and directory pathnames.

• Use common Unix / Linux commands to perform directory management tasks.

• Use Text Editors to create and modify text files

• Use Common Unix / Linux commands to manage and manipulate text files.

Tutorial Reference Material

Course Notes	Linux Command/Shortcut Reference
Slides: PDF | PPTX Tutorials: Nano Reference Sheet (PDF) Vi Reference Sheet (PDF)	File Management pwd cd ls tree mkdir rmdir cp mv rm , rm -r	Text Editors / File Content vi , *nano cat more , less head , tail touch file find diff sort uniq grep

KEY CONCEPTS

Unix / Linux 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".

To better organize files (eg. text, images, documents, spreadsheets, programs) within your Matrix account, they should be stored in directories. To further organize many files, directories
may contain sub-directories.

The Unix/Linux file system is hierarchical, like other operating systems such as Windows, Mac OSX, etc. 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 and manipulating directory and files within the the Linux filesystem are essential skills for Linux users and Linux system administrators (i.e. sysadmins).

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

Directory Pathnames

A pathname points to a file system location by following the directory tree hierarchy.

A pathname is used to specify a route to a file within the file system.

A pathname 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:

Common directory pathnames
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 specific 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.)

When you log into your Matrix account, you are automatically directed to your home directory.
This directory is where the user can store files, and create subdirectories to organize their files.