Chapter 10: Managing Linux Files, Directories, and Archives

Overview

In Linux, all files are organized into directories that, in turn, are hierarchically connected to each other in one overall file structure. A file is referenced not just according to its name, but also according to its place in this file structure. You can create as many new directories as you want, adding more directories to the file structure. The Linux file commands can perform sophisticated operations, such as moving or copying whole directories along with their subdirectories. You can use file operations such as find, cp, mv, and ln to locate files and copy, move, or link them from one directory to another. Desktop file managers, such as Konqueror and Nautilus used on the KDE and GNOME desktops, provide a graphical user interface to perform the same operations using icons, windows, and menus (see Chapters 6 and 7). This chapter will focus on the commands you use in the shell command line to manage files, such as cp and mv. However, whether you use the command line or a GUI file manager, the underlying file structure is the same.

The organization of the Linux file structure into its various system and network administration directories is discussed in detail in Chapter 30. Though not part of the Linux file structure, there are also special tools you can use to access Windows partitions and floppy disks. These follow much the same format as Linux file commands.

Archives are used to back up files or to combine them into a package, which can then be transferred as one file over the Internet or posted on an FTP site for easy downloading. The standard archive utility used on Linux and Unix systems is tar, for which several GUI front ends exist. You have several compression programs to choose from, including GNU zip (gzip), Zip, bzip, and compress.

Note

Linux also allows you to mount and access file systems used by other operating systems such as Unix or Windows. Linux itself supports a variety of different file systems such as ext2, ext3, and ReiserFS. File systems are discussed in Chapter 30. Access to remote file systems is discussed in Chapter 36.