Workbook 2 Filesystem Basics: Chapter 3 Managing Files

Question 1

pwd > results.txt
Is the following a valid command line?
If so, what does it do?

Answer 1

Outputs the results of pwd to a file called results.txt [22]

Question 2

Give a command line that appends the phrase “I love Linux” to the contents of the file named
greetings.txt

Answer 2

echo “I love Linux”&raquo_space; greetings.txt [23]

Question 3

Give a command line that copies the file britney.midi and names the copy backup.midi

Answer 3

cp britney.midi backup.midi [23]

Question 4

Give a command line that copies the file /etc/passwd to your current working directory

Answer 4

cp /etc/passwd password.txt [24]

Question 5

If you specify more than two arguments to the cp command, what must the last argument be?

Answer 5

when cp is used with > 2 arguments, last one must be a directory. [24]

Question 6

Give a command line that renames the file britney.midi to junk.midi

Answer 6

mv britney.midi junk.midi [24]

Question 7

True or false?

When moving a file, the mv command always moves the file’s data.

Answer 7

False!!
mv rarely actually moves data
around. Instead, the filesystem merely records a name change [24]

Question 8

Give a command line that moves ~/britney.midi to the songs directory.

Answer 8

mv ~/britney.midi songs [24]

Question 9

Give a command line that renames the cisco directory to ccna

Answer 9

mv cisco ccna [25]

Question 10

Referring to the previous question, what would happen if the ccna already existed and you tried
to rename the cisco directory to ccna?

Answer 10

The file would move into ccna[25]

Question 11

True or false?
Assuming that you have sufficient privileges and that somedir is a directory, the following command line removes that directory.

Answer 11

False!!!

You must use the rmdir command if the directory is empty [25]

Question 12

Give a command line that removes the files ~/britney.midi and junk.midi

Answer 12

rm ~/britney.midi junk.midi [26]

Question 13

True or false?

For all users, cp clobbers files without confirmation.

Answer 13

True!!!

cp or mv, the existing file will be destroyed without warning. This is known as clobbering a file [26]

Question 14

Give a command line that moves file1 and file2 to the songs directory.

Answer 14

mv file1 file2 song directory [28]

Question 15

Give a command line that enables bash’s noclobber option.

Answer 15

set +o noclobber [30]

Question 16

Give a command line that disables bash’s noclobber option.

Answer 16

set -o noclobber [30]