File Operations

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Published Mar 17, 2025
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File operations in Bash refer to commands that allow users to create, delete, move, copy, and manipulate files and directories using the command line.

Syntax

Creating Files

To create a new file:

touch filename

Copying Files

To copy a file from one location to another:

cp source_file destination

Moving/Renaming Files

To move or rename a file:

mv source_file destination_file
mv old_name new_name

Deleting Files

To remove a file:

rm filename

Creating Directories

To create a new directory:

mkdir directory_name

Removing Directories

To remove an empty directory:

rmdir directory_name

To remove a directory with its contents recursively:

rm -r directory_name

Example

Consider a scenario where someone wants to create a directory, move a file into it, and then delete the file:

# Create a new directory named 'project'
mkdir project


# Create a new file named 'notes.txt'
touch notes.txt


# Move 'notes.txt' into 'project'
mv notes.txt project/


# Remove 'notes.txt' located in 'project'
rm project/notes.txt


# Remove the 'project' directory
rmdir project

After running these commands, the directory project and its file notes.txt will no longer exist.

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