Lesson 1.14: Copying, Removing Files and Directories
Copying Files and Directories
Command: cp [option] [source] <destination>
Option
- -i : Ask for confirmation
- -f : Forcefully overwrite
- -r : To copy a dir and sub directory
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ ls
d1 d2 f1 f2
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ cp f1 d1
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ tree
.
├── d1
│ └── f1
├── d2
├── f1
└── f2
2 directories, 3 files
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ cp -i f2 d2
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ tree
.
├── d1
│ └── f1
├── d2
│ └── f2
├── f1
└── f2
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ cp -r d3.1 d3
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ tree
.
├── d1
│ └── f1
├── d2
│ ├── f2
│ └── f3
├── d3
│ ├── d3.1
│ └── f3
├── d3.1
├── f1
├── f2
└── f3
Removing Files and Directories
Command: rm [option] [source] <destination>
Option
- -i : Ask for confirmation for removal
- -f : Forcefully remove without confirmation
- -r : To remove a directory
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ ls
d1 d2 d3 d3.1 f1 f2 f3
# Default
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ rm f1
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ ls
d1 d2 d3 d3.1 f2 f3
# -i : Ask for confirmation for removal
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ rm -i f2
rm: remove regular empty file 'f2'? y
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ ls
d1 d2 d3 d3.1 f3
# -r : To remove a directory
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ rm -r d3.1
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver test2]$ ls
d1 d2 d3 f3Examples
Example 1: Using the copy command with wildcard (ending with .conf)
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver /]$ cp /etc/*.conf /home/sanjeeb/class/
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver class]$ pwd
/home/sanjeeb/class
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver class]$ ls
appstream.conf dracut.conf ld.so.conf mke2fs.conf resolv.conf updatedb.conf
asound.conf fuse.conf libuser.conf nsswitch.conf rsyncd.conf usb_modeswitch.conf
brltty.conf host.conf locale.conf pbm2ppa.conf rsyslog.conf vconsole.conf
chrony.conf kdump.conf logrotate.conf php-fpm.conf sestatus.conf xattr.conf
dnsmasq.conf krb5.conf man_db.conf pnm2ppa.conf sysctl.conf yum.confExample 2: Using the copy command with wildcard ( starting with yum and everthing after)
# Checking the files or directories first
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver /]$ ls -l /etc | grep yum*
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 57 Dec 6 2023 yum
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 12 Oct 26 2023 yum.conf -> dnf/dnf.conf
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Apr 14 17:35 yum.repos.d
# Using -r for directories
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver /]$ cp -r /etc/yum* /home/sanjeeb/class/
#Checking whether it's copied or not
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver class]$ ls | grep yum
yum
yum.conf
yum.repos.dExample 3: Using rm command to remove with wildcard ( starting with yum and everything after )
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver class]$ ls -lh | grep yum
drwxr-xr-x. 2 sanjeeb sanjeeb 57 Sep 19 17:24 yum
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 sanjeeb sanjeeb 12 Sep 19 17:24 yum.conf -> dnf/dnf.conf
drwxr-xr-x. 3 sanjeeb sanjeeb 4.0K Sep 19 17:24 yum.repos.d
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver class]$ rm -rf yum*
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver class]$ ls -lh | grep yum
[sanjeeb@assignmentserver class]$ ls
appstream.conf dracut.conf ld.so.conf mke2fs.conf resolv.conf updatedb.conf
asound.conf fuse.conf libuser.conf nsswitch.conf rsyncd.conf usb_modeswitch.conf
brltty.conf host.conf locale.conf pbm2ppa.conf rsyslog.conf vconsole.conf
chrony.conf kdump.conf logrotate.conf php-fpm.conf sestatus.conf xattr.conf
dnsmasq.conf krb5.conf man_db.conf pnm2ppa.conf sysctl.conf