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Linux File Commands: mkdir, touch, cp, mv and rm

Create folders and files with mkdir and touch, copy and move with cp and mv, delete safely with rm, use wildcards, and edit text files with nano.

Beginner7 min readUpdated
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Create folders#

mkdir makes a folder. -p creates parent folders too, and does not complain if they exist:

Terminal
mkdir project
mkdir -p project/src/utils
tree project
Output
project
└── src
    └── utils

3 directories, 0 files

Create files#

touch creates an empty file, or updates the time of an existing one. echo with > writes text to a file:

Terminal
cd project
touch README.md
echo "print('hi')" > src/app.py
ls -l src
Output
total 8
-rw-rw-r-- 1 asha asha   12 Nov  5 06:26 app.py
drwxrwxr-x 2 asha asha 4096 Nov  5 06:26 utils

To edit a file in the terminal, the easiest editor is nano:

Terminal
nano README.md

Type your text, press Ctrl+O then Enter to save, and Ctrl+X to leave. The commands are listed at the bottom of the screen. On servers, you may also meet vim: press i to type, then Esc, then :wq to save and leave, or :q! to leave without saving.

Copy#

cp source destination copies a file:

Terminal
cp src/app.py src/app_backup.py
ls src
Output
app.py
app_backup.py
utils

To copy a folder, add -r (recursive):

Terminal
cp -r src src_copy
ls
Output
README.md
src
src_copy

Move and rename#

mv does both. Linux has no separate rename command for everyday use:

Terminal
mv src/app_backup.py backup.py
mv backup.py old.py
ls
Output
README.md
old.py
src
src_copy

Delete#

rm removes files. rmdir removes empty folders, and rm -r removes a folder and everything in it:

Terminal
rm old.py
rm -r src_copy
ls
Output
README.md
src

rm -i asks before each deletion, and cp -i and mv -i ask before overwriting. By default, cp and mv overwrite without asking.

Wildcards#

The shell expands wildcards into matching names before the command runs.

PatternMatches
*Anything, including nothing
?Exactly one character
[abc]One of those characters
[0-9]One digit
Terminal
ls *.png
ls a?.png
ls [ab]1.png
echo *.txt
Output
a1.png
a2.png
b1.png
a1.png
a2.png
a1.png
b1.png
notes.txt

echo shows what the shell produced, which makes it a safe way to test a pattern.

Brace expansion#

Braces produce a list of words, whether or not such files exist:

Terminal
mkdir -p site/{css,js,images}
ls site
echo photo{1..3}.jpg
Output
css
images
js
photo1.jpg photo2.jpg photo3.jpg

Names with spaces#

Use quotes, or a backslash before the space:

Terminal
touch "my file.txt"
ls -l my\ file.txt
Output
-rw-rw-r-- 1 asha asha 0 Nov  5 06:26 my file.txt

Common mistakes#

Practice#

Practice exercise

Create shop/products and shop/orders with one command, add an empty file orders/june.csv, copy it to orders/july.csv, and print the tree.

Show solution
Terminal
mkdir -p shop/{products,orders}
touch shop/orders/june.csv
cp shop/orders/june.csv shop/orders/july.csv
tree shop
Output
shop
├── orders
│   ├── july.csv
│   └── june.csv
└── products

3 directories, 2 files

Key takeaway#

Next: Reading Files.

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