Module 2 Lesson 4 - Navigation and

File Management
Managing your files and directories in the command line can seem intimidating, but once you master a few
basic commands, you'll be able to navigate and manipulate your files with ease. In this module, we'll cover file
and directory manipulation, permissions, piping and redirection, and absolute and relative paths.
Navigation and File Management
Navigating
Directories
To navigate between
directories, use the cd
command, followed by the
directory path. Use cd .. to
move up one directory.
File Listing
To list all files and subdirectories
in your current directory, use
the ls command. Add the -l flag
to get a detailed listing with file
permissions, owners, and more.
Creating Directories
To create a new directory, use
the mkdir command followed
by the desired directory name.
File and Directory Manipulation
Command Description

cp Copy a file or directory to a new location.

mv Move or rename a file or directory.

rm Delete a file or directory. Add the -r flag to delete

a directory and its contents.

touch Create an empty file with the given name.

File and Directory Permissions
1 File Permissions 2 Directory
Permissions for files are
typically represented by a
three-digit octal number.
The leftmost digit
indicates the owner's
permissions, the middle
digit the group's
permissions, and the
rightmost digit everyone
else's permissions. A
common setting is 644,
which gives the owner
read and write
permissions, and everyone
else read-only
permissions.
3 Setting Permissions
Permissions
To change permissions,
Directory permissions use the chmod command
follow a similar pattern to followed by the desired
file permissions, but with permissions and the file or
different meanings. r directory name.
allows the user to list
directory contents, w
allows the user to add or
x
remove files, and allows
the user to enter the
directory.
Piping and Redirection

Piping and redirection are powerful features that allow you to combine and manipulate commands in a
variety of useful ways. Piping takes the output of one command and sends it as input to another
command. Redirection allows you to redirect input and output to and from files.
Combining Piping and Redirection

Piping and Redirection in Action

The possibilities for combining piping and redirection are nearly endless. For example, you can use piping to
sort a list of files and redirection to save the output to a file.
Absolute and Relative Paths
1 2

Absolute Paths Relative Paths

An absolute path refers to the full path of a file
or directory, starting from the root directory. For
example, /home/user/file.txt is an absolute
path.
A relative path refers to the path of a file or
directory relative to the current working
directory. For example, if you're currently in the
/home/user directory, the relative path to
file.txt in the /home/user/docs directory would
be docs/file.txt.
The Power of the Command Line
Efficiency Automation Flexibility

Once you learn the basic
commands, the command
line can be much faster and
more efficient than using a
GUI to manage your files.
You can use the command The command line gives you
line to automate repetitive more control and flexibility
tasks, such as renaming files over your files and directories
or resizing images. than most GUIs.