Quiz 3 - Managing Files From the Command Line

cd -P

A command option that updates the current working directory to the actual directory rather than the symbolic link's name.

df

A command that displays the disk space usage of file systems, showing the total space, used space, available space, and mount points.

ls -l

A command used to list files in a directory with detailed information, showing permissions, link count, owner, group, size, and timestamps.

Dangling Symbolic Link

A symbolic link that points to a missing file, becoming invalid when the target file is deleted.

Inode Number

A unique identifier for a file on a file system, used to determine if two files are hard linked.

Space Character in Linux File Names

Acceptable in Linux file names; use quotation marks to interpret names with spaces as a single argument.

cd Command

Changes the shell's current working directory; options include changing to the previous directory with cd -, moving up one level with cd .., and using (.) for the current directory.

cp

Command to copy files, either in the current directory or to a specified directory.

mkdir

Command to create one or more directories or subdirectories by providing a list of paths.

mv

Command to move files from one location to another, effectively renaming them.

rmdir

Command to remove empty directories.

rm

Command to remove files; does not remove directories by default.

Runtime content

Content from a process or the system that is deleted on reboot.

Dynamic content

Content that might be modified or appended by active processes.

Persistent content

Content that remains after a reboot, such as configuration settings.

Static content

Content that remains unchanged until explicitly edited or reconfigured.

/boot

Directory containing files to start the boot process in Linux.

/etc

Directory for system-specific configuration files in Linux.

/dev

Directory holding special device files used by the system to access hardware.

/usr

Directory in Linux containing installed software, shared libraries, and read-only program data.

/var

Directory in Linux for system-specific variable data that should persist between boots.

/run

Directory storing runtime data for processes that started since the last boot in Linux.

pwd Command

Displays the full path of the current working directory in the shell.

Hard Links

File names that reference the same file sharing the inode structure, access permissions, ownership, timestamps, and file content.

Hidden Files in Linux

Files starting with a dot (.) are hidden; used for user configuration files to avoid cluttering directories.

Absolute Paths

Fully qualified path specifying the exact location of a file in the file-system hierarchy, starting from the root directory (/).

/root

Home directory for the administrative superuser, root.

/home

Home directory where regular users store their data and configuration files.

Relative Paths

Identify a unique location by specifying only the necessary path to reach the location from the working directory, starting with a character other than a forward slash (/).

Case-Sensitive File Systems

Linux file systems like ext4, XFS, GFS2, and GlusterFS are case-sensitive, treating files with different capitalization as unique.

ls Command

Lists directory contents; common options include -l (long format), -a (all files), and -R (recursive).

Case-Preserving File Systems

Non-Linux file systems like VFAT, Microsoft NTFS, and Apple HFS+ are case-preserving but not case-sensitive, displaying original capitalization.

mkdir -p

Option that creates missing parent directories for the requested destination.

cp -r

Option to copy directories and their contents recursively.

mv -v

Option to display a detailed output of the move command operations.

rm -r

Option to enable the removal of directories and their contents.

rm -i

Option to interactively prompt for confirmation before deleting.

Symbolic Links

Special type of file that points to an existing file or directory, allowing linking between files on different file systems.

/usr/bin

Subdirectory in /usr containing user commands in Linux.

/usr/local

Subdirectory in /usr for locally customized software in Linux.

/usr/sbin

Subdirectory in /usr holding system administration commands in Linux.

ln -s

The command option used to create symbolic links, allowing linking to directories or special files.

ln

The command used to create hard links, adding additional file names that point to the same data on the file system.

Current Working Directory

The directory where a user or process is currently located in the file system.

Link Count

The number of hard links that a file has, indicating the quantity of file names pointing to the same data.

Storage Device

The physical or virtual device where data is stored, with hard links pointing to the same data on it.

/ directory

The root directory at the top of the file-system hierarchy in Linux.

File System

The structure and logic used to manage data on storage devices, with hard links limited to files on the same system.

touch Command

Updates file timestamp to current date/time without modifying content, useful for creating empty files.

/tmp

World-writable space for temporary files in Linux; files not accessed, changed, or modified for 10 days are automatically deleted.