Here I will be writing about the basics of working with directories in Linux from the command line. I was quite confused about this when I first started using Linux about 14 years ago, coming from a windows GUI world. After learning about linux , I now know that it is much easier and faster to work from the linux command line than in windows GUI.
Here we will be Discussing how to perform the following actions
- Make /Create a directory
- Rename a directory
- Change to a specific linux directory — linux home directory
- Delete/remove a directory
- Find the current directory / working directory
mkdir command – Make / Create a directory in Linux
Syntax :
mkdir command is used to create /make new directory in linux .
Example 1 To create a single directory under your current directory.
mkdir example
The above command will create a directory called example under the current working directory
Example 2 To create a single directory in a different location
mkdir /etc/example
The above command will create a new directory under the /etc directrory. Like this example, you need to provide the full directory location if the directory you want to create is not under your current directory
Example 3 Create multiple directories at one
mkdir example1 example2 example3
The above command will create 3 directories named directory1,directory2,directory3 under your current working directory
Example 4 Create a directory structure
mkdir -p /dir/sub-dir/sub-sub-dir/
This command will create a directory structure. The -p flag will create the parent directories if they don’t exist. For example , if you use the above command without the -p flag you will get an error message saying that the parent directory doesn’t exist as below
mv command – rename or move a directory in linux
Unlike the name suggests-move- mv command can be used to rename a directory.
Example 1 rename a directory under the current directory in linux
mv alice bob
The above command will rename a directory called alice to bob.
[message title=”Note” title_color=”#db3d32″ title_bg=”#dddddd” title_icon=”fa-exclamation” content_color=”#000000″ content_bg=”#ffffff” id=””]if a directory called bob already exists, instead of renaming , it will move the directory alice in to bob – /bob/alice. To prevent this , use -T flag(–no-target-directory – treat DEST as a normal file) [/message]
cd command – Change directory in linux
Syntax
cd <name of dir>
Note : if the directory name contains any space you should use quotes to make sure that you moved in to the correct directory. Also you can use TAB key to complete the name of the directrory , bash will try to autocomplete.
Example 1 : change to direct sub directory(use relative path)
cd dirname
Example 2 : change to a directory that is not a current sub directrory( absolute path)
Cd /var/log/
Example 3 change to current current users home directory
Cd Cd ~
You can go directly to your home directory using this command – doesn’t matter where your current directory location is . ( ~ symbol is called a tilde )
Example 4 change to the previous directory
Cd -
This command will take you to the directory you were previously before the last cd command
Example 5 change to parent directory
Cd ..
This will change your working directory to the parent directory of the current directory
Cd /
This will change your working directory to the root directory – doesn’t matter where your current locations is just like like cd ~ command for home directory. Please see the table below to see what symbols are used with cd command.
| . | Current directory |
| .. | Parent directory |
| ~ | Home directory of user |
| / | Root directory |
| – | Previous directory before the last cd command |
How to find your current working directory ?
you can use pwd command to find the current working directory.
pwd- Print working directory.