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In addition to viewing files, we can also copy and move their contents around! The first command we'll us to do this is the cp command, which takes in two arguments; the first is the file you want to copy, and the second is the name of the new file you want to create:
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cp foo.txt foo_copy1.txt
cat foo_copy1.txt |
Under the hood, these are using relative paths to know which files you're referring to; knowing this, we can copy files into different directories as well!
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cp foo.txt test/foo_copy2.txt
cat test/foo_copy2.txt |
In addition to copying files, we can use the mv command to move files. This is just like copying, except it deletes the source file at the end:
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mv foo.txt test/foo_moved.txt
ls # No foo.txt in our c2s2 directory
cat test/foo_moved.txt |
While mv is similar to cp , it also has a bit more functionality. For instance, we can use mv to rename files by simply moving them to something with a different name (this is how we rename files in Linux):
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mv foo_copy1.txt bar.txt
ls
cat bar.txt |
In addition to moving files, we can use mv to rename and move directories as well! This will move the directory and its contents:
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mv test test_moved
ls |
While cp can copy directories, simply typing something like cp test_moved won't work; cp doesn't work just by itself on directories. Instead, we must explicitly specify that we'd like to copy the directory and its contents by using the r flag (short for recursive, indicating that we'd like to recurse into the directory to copy all of its contents)
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cp -r test_moved test_copied
ls
ls test_copied # ls works with paths to directories as well! |
Take some time to play around with the files that you have at your disposal now, seeing all the different ways that you can copy and move them. In particular:
- Make another copy of
bar.txt named bar2.txt - Copy a file from within
test up to the parent folder, c2s2 - Move the
test folder to have your NetID folder as its parent, and rename it test_renamed
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If you are given a choice between copying a folder (using cp) and moving it (using mv), the latter will always be faster. cp has to move all the contents, but when using mv, the operating system simply has to move around the pointer to the folder in the folder hierarchy, and doesn't have to move all of the data individually (if you're curious about what a pointer is, check out the C/C++ Training!) |
Removing Files
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The commands discussed in this section will have permanent, irreversible effects. Use them with caution and at your own risk. Unless you are certain that you will never need the files again, it is recommended that you instead move them to a temporary location (C2S2 will likely come up with a command to automatically do this, poke Aidan or the team lead if you want it sooner  ) |
To remove a file, we will use the rm command. Unless you happen to be a forensic computer scientist
