Creating Files and Directories
As a Linux user, most of the files you save and work with will probably be in your home directory.
Table 2-8 shows commands to create and use files and directories.
TABLE 2-8
Commands to Create and Use Files
Command
Result
cd
Change to another directory.
pwd
Print the name of the current (or present) working directory.
mkdir
Create a directory.
chmod
Change the permissions on a file or directory.
ls
List the contents of a directory.
The following steps lead you through creating directories within your home directory and moving
among your directories, with a mention of setting appropriate file permissions:
1.
Go to your home directory. To do this, simply type cd. (For other ways of referring to
your home directory, see the sidebar "Identifying Directories".)
2.
To make sure that you're in your home directory, type pwd. When I do this, I get the fol-
lowing response (yours will reflect your home directory):
$ pwd
/home/chris
3.
Create a new directory called
test
in your home directory, as follows:
$ mkdir test
4.
Check the permissions of the directory:
$ ls -ld test
drwxr-xr-x 2 chris sales 1024 Jan 24 12:17 test
This listing shows that
test
is a directory (
d
). The
d
is followed by the permissions
(
rwxr-xr-x
), which are explained later in the section "Understanding File Permissions."
The rest of the information indicates the owner (
chris
), the group (
sales
), and the date
that the files in the directory were most recently modified (Jan. 24 at 12:17 p.m.).
68
Linux First Steps
Part I
