CS131 Week 4

File System and Navigation

• The root directory in the UNIX file system is represented by the slash (/) symbol.

Directory Navigation

• The dot (.) symbol represents the current working directory in the UNIX file system.
• The dot-dot (..) symbol represents the parent directory in the UNIX file system.
• The find command is used to search for files and directories across the entire filesystem or within a specified directory, including subdirectories.
• The find command with the -name option is used to search for files with names ending in a specific pattern, such as .conf.
• The xargs command is used to read items from standard input and execute a specified command with those items as arguments.

File System Structure

• The character / represents the root directory in UNIX-like operating systems.
• Regular files are the most common file type on a filesystem.
• The character device file /dev/tty represents the controlling terminal of a process.

File Operations

• The mkdir command is used to create a new directory in Linux.
• The ls -l command displays detailed information about files and directories in a long format.
• The chmod 755 command sets permissions to allow the owner to read, write, and execute, and others to read and execute.
• Execute permission is required to cd to a directory and access files in it.

Directories and Inodes

• A directory in UNIX is a special type of file that contains a list of filenames and inode numbers.
• An inode in UNIX is a data structure that contains information about a file, such as its ownership, permissions, and location on disk.

File Management

• The mv command is used to rename or move files in UNIX.
• When you call rmdir on a non-empty directory in UNIX, it returns an error message and does not delete the directory.