Working with Files

1
Working with Files

• How to create, view, copy, rename and print
  files.

2
Create a Calendar

• Create a calendar for a specific month
• cal 12 2000
• Create a calendar for a specific year
• cal 2000

3
Creating a file with redirection

• Most commands send their output to the screen.
• You can change (redirect) where you want the
  results sent.
• cal 2000 gt 2001

4
ls

• list
• Displays the names of the files in the current
  directory.
• Flags
• -a shows all the files, including hidden ones
• -F puts a / after directories, an after
  executables, and an _at_ after links
• -l displays a long listing of files
• -R will also list contents of sub-directories
• -s will list the size of the files

5
Viewing the file

• What if you want to see the contents of a file?
• Use the cat command
• cat name of file
• cat 2000
• Use the more command
• more name of file
• more 2000

6
Chaining files together

• Use the cat command to see more than one file
• cal 6 2000 gt june
• cal 7 2000 gt july
• cal 8 2000 gt august
• cat june july august
• Send the results to another file
• cat june july august gt summer2000

7
Appending files

• Unix allows you to add information to the end of
  a file rather than overwriting it.
• This is called appending and is done with the gtgt
• cal 9 2000 gtgt summer2000

8
cp

• copy
• Copies the contents of one file to another.
• cp file to copy new file name
• Flags
• -r will copy directories and all their contents.
  
• Without this flag, the directory will not be
  copied and you will get an error message.

9
mv

• move
• Better name could be the rename command.
• Changes the name of one file to another.
• mv old file name new file name
• Note, if new file name is a directory, you will
  move old file name to that directory and keep
  the original name.

10
lpr

• print command (stands for line printer)
• This prints the file(s) you specify to the
  printer you specify.
• lpr flags file name(s) to print
• Flags
• -P specifies the name of the printer to print
  to.
• -w1-n specifies the number of pages to print
  per page.
• -h removes the header page.

11
lpq

• view print queue (stands for line printer
  query)
• When you print a file, it gets sent to a print
  queue (a line of files waiting to be printed).
• lpq will show you the names of the files in the
  print queue.
• Use the -P flag just like in lpr to specify the
  printer whose queue you wish to view.

12
lprm

• line printer remove
• Used to remove a file from the print queue.
• Use the lpq to see the file and then use lprm
  job number to remove the specific job.
• You can only remove print jobs that you sent to
  the printer.
• Use the - flag to remove all your files.

13
rm

• remove
• Deletes the specified file or files.
• This is destructive!
• They are gone!
• They cannot be retrieved!!!
• rm file name
• Note this does not generally work with
  directories.

14
Working with Directories

• A directory is just a file that contains other
  files. Now we will learn commands to create
  directories, move files between directories,
  rename files and delete directories.

15
mkdir

• make directory
• This creates a directory.
• mkdir new directory name
• mkdir calendar

16
Moving files between directories

• When you create a directory, it contains no
  files.
• You need to put files into it with the mv
  command.
• mv summer2000 calendar

17
Using pathnames

• You can create subdirectories within directories.
  
• mkdir calendar/months
• You can move files into those subdirectories
• mv june calendar/months
• You can use other commands in a similar manner
• ls calendar/months
• ls /

18
cd

• change directory
• Changes the directory to whatever you specify.
• cd name of directory
• Without any directory (just cd) you will be taken
  to your home directory.

19
pwd

• print working directory
• Displays the full path of the current directory
  you are in.

20
rmdir

• remove directory
• This deletes a directory (as opposed to the rm
  command above).
• The directory must be empty otherwise you will
  get an error.

21
Reading

• Chapters 7 and 8
• Access Privileges