Malta Linux User Group

File Commands

Here are some of the common commands to work with files.

cp filename1 filename2

cp filename1 filename2 filename2 (etc) directory

Copies a file, from filename1 to filename2 or (second form) copies one or more files into the specified directory. Warning: if the destination file already exists, it will be overwritten.

mv filename1 filename2

Renames a file, from filename1 to filename2. Warning: if the second file already exists, it will be overwritten.

mv filename1 filename2 filename2 (etc) directory

Moves one or more files into the specified directory. Warning: if the directory already contains files with the same names, they will be overwritten.

less filename

Displays the contents of the specified file onto the screen, allowing you to use the arrow keys, PgUp/PgDown etc to move around (like the "man" command).

file filename

Displays the file-type by examining its contents, with a very high degree of accuracy.

locate file-or-directory-name

searches for a file or directory in the entire hard disk and displays all the places it’s found. You can also specify a partial name or a section of the entire path.