Book Image

Linux Utilities Cookbook

By : James Kent Lewis
Book Image

Linux Utilities Cookbook

By: James Kent Lewis

Overview of this book

<p>Linux is a stable, reliable and extremely powerful operating system. It has been around for many years, however, most people still don't know what it can do and the ways it is superior to other operating systems. Many people want to get started with Linux for greater control and security, but getting started can be time consuming and complicated. <br /><br />A practical, hands-on guide that provides you with a number of clear step-by-step examples to help you solve many of the questions that crop up when using an operating system you may not be familiar with.</p> <p>Presenting solutions to the most common Linux problems in a clear and concise way, this helpful guide starts with spicing up the terminal sessions by command retrieval and line editing, and shell prompt variables. We will then get to know the different desktops (GUIs) available for Linux systems and which is the best fit for you. We will then explore the world of managing files and directories, connectivity, and what to do when it goes wrong. We will also learn a range of skills, from creating and managing user accounts to securing your system, managing and limiting processes, and letting information flow from one process to another using pipes. Later, we will master disk management, working with scripts and automating tasks quickly, and finally, understand the need for a custom kernel and tips on how to build one.</p> <p><br />Based on the author's extensive experience, there is a section on best practices that every Linux user should be familiar with.</p>
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Linux Utilities Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Copying, removing, and updating files and directories


In this section we will briefly explore how to copy, remove, and update files.

Getting ready

Several books have been written about filesystem management, and so this will serve as just a brief overview. If you have a Linux machine available you can try out these commands. We will be doing everything in the /tmp filesystem, so you don't have to worry about messing anything up on your system.

How to do it...

The following is the method to create some files and directories:

  1. Go to the /tmp directory:

    cd /tmp
    
  2. Make a test directory:

    mkdir lbooktest3
    
  3. Go to the directory:

    cd lbooktest3
    
  4. Let's create some files:

    ls > f1; ls > f2; ls > f3
    
  5. Also, create some directories:

    mkdir dir1 dir2 dir3
    
  6. The syntax for copy is cp source-file destination-file, so now run cp f1 f5. This will create file f5 which is a copy of file f1.

  7. You can copy to a directory:

    cp f1 dir1
    
  8. The above is a relative path, because it starts from the current directory. To use an absolute...