File Management

The following is a summary of common UNIX commands used for file management. Most of the commands are self-explanatory, yet have more advanced options. See See chapter , Getting Help, and chapter , Advanced Topics, for more information, or consult the man pages.

cat file1 file2 ...

sends the contents of one or more text files to standard output (usually the screen). Be sure not to cat binary files. When binary files are sent to the screen, the terminal tends to lock up.

less file1 file2 ...

displays the contents of a file a screenful at a time. SPACE or PAGEDOWN show the next screenful, b or PAGEUP show the previous screenful, ENTER or $\downarrow$ show the next line, $\uparrow$ shows the previous line, ? brings up a help list, and q quits viewing. The name less is a pun on more, which is another pager with fewer features. Thus, less is more (but better, more than more if you will).

cd path

changes the current directory to path.

ls [dir]

lists the files in dir or the current directory if no argument is given.

pwd

prints the name of the working (current) directory.

cp source destination

copies a file from source to destination

mv source destination

moves a file from source to destination.

rm file

removes a file.

mkdir dir

creates a directory of the name dir.

rmdir dir

removes a directory of the name dir if it is empty.