Lesson 7 - Chapter 3: Working with Files

Question 1

What is a wildcard?

Answer 1

A way to search for specific types of files

Question 2

A wildcard consists of 1 of 2 special characters which are:

Answer 2

1. Asterisk *
2. Question Mark ?

Question 3

How do you use a wildcard? What does it replace?

Answer 3

You use a wildcard in place of all or part of a filename (so that it can target more than one file at a time)

Question 4

What types of commands does a wildcard work with?

Answer 4

virtually every command that deals with multiple files or directories will take wildcards (like dir on Windows)

Question 5

A good way to think about the wildcard is to replace the part of the filename that you don’t….?

Answer 5

replace the part of the filename that you don’t care about with an asterisk (*.txt)

Question 6

What’s an example of using a wildcard using the dir command to see all files with the .txt extension?

Answer 6

dir *.txt

Question 7

What’s an example of using a wildcard when using dir command to see every file that starts with the letter k?

Answer 7

dir k.

(dir k star-dot-star)

(remember, replacing the parts we don’t care about with the asterisk so don’t care about the rest of the filename, don’t care about the extension)

Question 8

What’s an example of using a wildcard in Linux to find all files that start with o?

Answer 8

ls o* -l

Question 9

What 2 commands can you use to delete files in Windows?

Answer 9

1. del
2. erase

Question 10

What command do you use to delete files in Linux/macOS?

Answer 10

rm

(same as deleting directories with contents)

Question 11

Files and directories deleted via the command line go to the recycling bin. T or F?

Answer 11

False, once they’re gone they’re GONE.

(Might be able to recover with a recovery utility called Piriform’s Recuva but don’t count on it)

Question 12

How do you delete multiple files?

Answer 12

use wildcards

Linux example: rm *.txt

Question 13

In Windows, how do you delete files named config with any extension?

Answer 13

del config.*

Question 14

How do you delete all the files in a directory in Windows?

Answer 14

del .

(the star dot star wildcard)

Question 15

What command do you use in Windows to delete a single file?

Answer 15

del

Question 16

What command do you use in Linux/macOS to delete a file?

Answer 16

rm

Question 17

NEVER fall for this Linux syntax prank:

Answer 17

sudo rm -rf /

it deletes every file and directory on the hard drive, -f switch forces the system to obey the command and / is the root of the drive

Question 18

In Linux and macOS, what commands move and copy files? (2)

Answer 18

1. cp
2. mv

Question 19

What commands do you use in Windows to copy and move files?

Answer 19

1. copy
2. move

Question 20

What workaround options do you have regarding working with files/directories with multiple words and spaces in between? (2)

Answer 20

1. Use File Explorer or another GUI file manager
2. Refer to the file by its short 8-3 name

Question 21

What is a file’s short 8-3 name?

Answer 21

It’s the first 6 letters of the file’s name followed by a tilde ~ and then a number

Question 22

How does a file’s short 8-3 name work?

Answer 22

If it’s the only file in that location with those first 6 letters, the number at the end is a 1. If multiple files have the same letters, it goes by sequential numbers (2, 3, 4, etc)

Question 23

Each long file name also has a ___-___ alias

Answer 23

short-name

Question 24

How do you see the aliases for all the files in a location? Command and switch

Answer 24

dir /X

(names that are already 8-3 compatible don’t have alternate short names)

Question 25

How do you rename a folder in Windows? What command?

Answer 25

ren

ren oldname newname

Question 26

How do you rename a folder in Linux/macOS, what command?

Answer 26

mv oldname newname

Question 27

How do you rename directories?

Answer 27

Same process as renaming the files, just doesn’t have file extensions

Question 28

What’s something to watch out for when you’re trying to move a file in Linux/macOS with the mv command?

Answer 28

If you try to move the file to a location that doesn’t exist, Linux might silently rename the file to that location name instead

Typed: mv Newfile.odt Screenplays
Instead of: mv Newfile.odt ~/Screenplays

Question 29

What is the process called when you copy or move a directory (complete with its sub-directories and files) as a whole pile with one command?

Answer 29

pruning and grafting

Question 30

What Windows command do you use to copy multiple sub-directories with one command?

Answer 30

xcopy

(needs a switch like /s or /e among many others)

Question 31

What is the robocopy command short for?

Answer 31

Robust File Copy

Question 32

What is robocopy on Windows used for? (3)

c, r, d

Answer 32

1. copies files/directories between computers on a network
2. replicates the structure on the destination system
3. deletes anything on that destination system that wasn’t part of the copy

Question 33

What does the basic syntax for robocopy look like?

Answer 33

robocopy [source] [destination] [options]

Question 34

What command do you use to copy all files and sub-directories from a local machine to a shared directory on a remote server?

Answer 34

robocopy

Question 35

What does the /mir switch do for the robocopy command?

Answer 35

it tells robocopy to copy everything from the source and make the destination mirror it (which will also delete anything in the destination that doesn’t match the source directories/files)

Question 36

Besides copying files and directories from one computer to another across a network, what else can robocopy do? (2)

it enables, resumes

Answer 36

1. It enables an administrator to copy encrypted files (even if admin is denied access to the files)
2. resume copying after an interruption at the spot it stopped

Question 37

Unlike Windows, in Linux/macOS you can move and copy directories and contents with the same cp and mv commands you’d use for a single file. T or F?

Answer 37

True

Question 38

To copy directories and its contents on Linux/macOS, what special switch do you use and with what command? (2)

Answer 38

cp -R

(recursive which means all its contents)

Question 39

To move directories and its contents on Linux/macOS, what command do you use and what switch?

Answer 39

mv

it doesn’t need a switch!

Question 40

Delete all the files in the Personal directory at a Linux CLI?

Answer 40

rm ~/Personal/.

star-dot-star

Question 41

Delete all the files in the Personal directory at a Windows CLI

Answer 41

del C:\Personal*.*

Question 42

Delete the Personal directory in Windows without first removing all its files

Answer 42

rd Personal /s

(or rmdir)

Question 43

Delete the Personal directory in Linux without first removing all its files

Answer 43

rm Personal -r

(he says /r but that doesn’t work for me only -r)

Question 44

Delete the Personal directory in Windows (only after having first removed all its files)

Answer 44

rd Personal