1. Create file with unique inode number
$ touch test1
$ ls -il test1
1954793 -rw-r--r-- 1 rich rich 0 Sep 1 09:35 test1
2. Create file without inode number
$ touch test1
$ ls -l test1
-rw-r--r-- 1 rich rich 0 Sep 1 09:37 test1
3. Change the file modification time
$ touch -t 200812251200 test1
$ ls -l test1
-rw-r--r-- 1 rich rich 0 Dec 25 2008 test1
4. Copy files
$cp source destination
5. Copy file to a directory
$ cp test1 dir1
To copy a file to the current directory you’re in, you can use the dot symbol.
6. Copy the contents of an entire directory in one command:
$ cp -R dir1 dir2
7. Linking files
If you need to maintain two (or more) copies of the same file on the system, instead of having separate physical copies, you can use one physical copy and multiple virtual copies, called links. A link is a placeholder in a directory that points to the real location of the file.
Hard link: create a separate file that contains information about the original file(test1) and where to locate it. After you create it, you will see the inode for test4 is the same as test1.
$ cp -l test1 test4
$ ls -il
Soft link: the -s parameter creates a symbolic, or soft link.
Tip: Instead of using the cp command, if you want to link files you can also use the ln command. By default the ln command creates hard links. If you want to create a soft link, you’ll still need to use the -s parameter.
Remember that the hard link file uses the same inode number as the original file. The hard link
file maintains that inode number until you remove the last linked file, preserving the data! All the soft link file knows is that the underlying file is now gone, so it has nothing to point to.
8. Renaming files
$ mv test2 test6
$ ls -il test*
Rename test2 to test6. Notice that moving the file changed the filename but kept the same inode number and the timestamp value.
9. Renaming directory
$ mv dir2 dir4
10. Deleting files
$ rm -i test2
rm: remove `test2’? y
$ ls -l
11. Creating directories
$ mkdir dir3
$ ls -il
12. Deleting directories
$ rmdir dir3
$ rmdir dir1
rmdir: dir1: Directory not empty
if you really want to remove a directory, you can use the -r parameter to recursively
remove the directory.
13. Viewing file statistics: The results from the stat command show just about everything you’d want to know about the file being examined:
$ stat test10
14. Viewing the file type: The file command is a handy little utility to have around. It has the ability to peek inside of a file and determine just what kind of file it is:
$ file test1
test1: ASCII text
15. Viewing the whole file
$ cat test1
$ cat -n test1
$ cat -b test1
$ cat -s test1
$ cat -T test1
$ more test1
The more command displays a text file, but stops after it displays each page of data.
The more command allows some rudimentary movement through the text file. For more advanced features, try the less command.
$ less test1
16. Viewing parts of a file
$tail -f
A great way to monitor the system log file in real-time mode.
