Basic CLI File Manipulation

Description 📄

In this activity, you will be building off of the CLI navigation commands you learned in the previous activity while adding onto that knowledge by exploring basic CLI (Command-Line Interface) file manipulation commands. You’ll learn how to create files, move, copy, and delete files and directories using commands like touch, mv, cp, and rm.

By the end of this exercise, you should feel confident using these commands to manage files and directories in a command-line environment.

Expected Project Structure 🏗️

cli_file_manipulation/
├── example.txt
└── backup/
    └── copy_example.txt

Instructions ✅

1. Create the Project Folder

• Navigate to the Home Directory
• Create a folder named cli_file_manipulation to store all your project files:

mkdir cli_file_manipulation

Explanation:

• mkdir cli_file_manipulation creates a new directory named cli_file_manipulation.

2. Navigate into the Project Folder

• Change your working directory to the newly created cli_file_manipulation directory:

cd cli_file_manipulation

Explanation:

• cd cli_file_manipulation changes the current directory to cli_file_manipulation.

3. Open the Directory in Visual Studio Code

• Open your cli_file_manipulation directory in Visual Studio Code by using the following command:

code .

Explanation:

• code . opens the current directory (cli_file_manipulation) in Visual Studio Code. If VS Code is not installed, this command will not work, and you may need to install it or open the directory manually.

4. Create an Example File

• Create a new text file named example.txt using the touch command:

touch example.txt

Explanation:

• touch example.txt creates an empty file named example.txt in the current directory.

5. Add Content to the File

• Open the example.txt file and add the following content:

This is an example file for CLI file manipulation practice.

Explanation:

• Open the file inside of VS Code and manually add the text for demo.

6. Copy the File

• Copy the example.txt file to create a new file named copy_example.txt using the cp command:

cp example.txt copy_example.txt

Explanation:

• cp example.txt copy_example.txt creates a copy of example.txt and names it copy_example.txt.

7. Move the Copied File

• Move the copy_example.txt file to a new directory named backup:

mkdir backup
mv copy_example.txt backup/

Explanation:

• mkdir backup creates a new directory named backup.
• mv copy_example.txt backup/ moves the copied file into the backup directory.

8. List the Contents of the Directory

• List the contents of the backup directory to verify that the file was moved successfully:

ls backup/

Explanation:

• ls backup/ lists the contents of the backup directory, showing that copy_example.txt is now in this directory.

9. Delete the Original File

• Delete the original example.txt file using the rm command:

rm example.txt

Explanation:

• rm example.txt deletes the example.txt file from the current directory.

10. Delete the Backup Directory

• Delete the backup directory and its contents using the rm -rf command:

rm -rf backup

Explanation:

• rm -rf backup recursively deletes the backup directory and all its contents. The -rf is required to delete directories.

Great job! You’ve successfully used basic CLI commands to manipulate files and directories.

Conclusion 📄

In this activity, you learned how to perform basic file manipulation tasks in the command line using commands like touch, mv, cp, and rm. These commands are fundamental for managing files and directories efficiently in a terminal environment. Mastering these will improve your workflow and prepare you for more advanced CLI operations in the future.

Remember to use your AI assistant to ask questions and troubleshoot issues.

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