File and Directory Commands

File and directory operations make up the largest share of everyday command-line use. This section covers the core usage of ls, cd, mkdir, cp, mv, rm, and find — all included by default on Debian-family distributions, with nothing extra to install.

Listing directory contents: ls

ls              # list the current directory's contents
ls -l           # detailed info: permissions, owner, size, modified time
ls -a           # include hidden files (those starting with .)
ls -lh          # detailed info, with sizes in human-readable units (K/M/G)
ls -lt          # sort by modified time, newest first

Flags like -l, -a, and -h can be combined — ls -lah, for example, is equivalent to enabling all three at once.

Changing directories: cd

cd /path/to/dir   # switch to an absolute path
cd relative/dir   # switch to a path relative to the current directory
cd ~              # switch to the current user's home directory
cd -              # switch back to the previous directory
cd ..             # switch to the parent directory

Creating directories: mkdir

mkdir new-dir             # create a single directory
mkdir -p a/b/c            # create nested directories, creating parents as needed

Without -p, the command fails if any parent directory (a, a/b in the example) doesn’t already exist.

Copying files and directories: cp

cp source.txt target.txt      # copy a file
cp -r source-dir target-dir   # recursively copy an entire directory
cp -i source.txt target.txt   # prompt before overwriting an existing target

Copying a directory requires -r (recursive) — without it, the command fails with an error saying the target is a directory.

Moving and renaming: mv

mv old-name.txt new-name.txt   # rename (moving within the same directory is equivalent to renaming)
mv file.txt /path/to/dir/      # move a file into a target directory

There’s no separate rename command — renaming is, under the hood, just “moving to a new filename in the same directory.”

Deleting files and directories: rm

rm file.txt        # delete a file
rm -r dir/          # recursively delete a directory and its contents
rm -rf dir/         # recursive delete without confirmation prompts (force)

rm has no recycle bin

Files deleted with rm don’t go into anything like a GUI recycle bin — there’s no standard way to recover them afterward. The -rf combination deserves particular caution: -r deletes subdirectories recursively, and -f skips every confirmation prompt. Before running the two together, it’s worth running the command without -f first to confirm the scope, or checking the path with ls beforehand.

Locating files: find

find . -name "*.txt"           # search by filename in the current directory and subdirectories
find /path -type d             # match only directories (-type f matches only files)
find . -mtime -1               # find files modified within the last day
find . -size +10M              # find files larger than 10MB

find supports combining criteria across name, type, size, and modified time — the overall structure of the command is “where to search + what to filter by,” and multiple filters can be stacked together. By comparison, the locate command is faster, but relies on a pre-built index database and won’t reflect files created after the index was last updated. The two suit different situations: find is the better fit whenever precise, real-time results matter.