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ModifyingContentsShell.md

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Modifying Contents in the Shell

Table of Contents

  1. Prereqs
  2. Create a Directory (mkdir)
  3. Create a File (touch)
  4. Remove Contents (rm)

Prereqs

  • You are reading this on a computer with a keyboard of some sort
  • You have the Terminal application or an equivalent command line interface installed
  • You know the basics of getting around in the shell

Create a Directory (mkdir)

Navigate to a directory of your choosing, and run the following command:

mkdir TigerKingResearch

Now, run the ls command and your new directory should show up. Feel free to cd into your new directory and cd .. back up to where you are now.

For more information, run the man mkdir command to see the manual documentation for the touch command. Press q to escape the less program!

Create a File (touch)

cd into your new directory (ours is called TigerKingResearch), and we will create a new Markdown file to start your independent investigation:

touch WhereIsDon.md

The touch command creates an empty file with the given name (and much more beyond the scope of this tutorial).

For more information, run the man touch command to see the manual documentation for the touch command. Press q to escape the less program!

Remove Contents (rm)

Remove a File (rm)

After you travel to Costa Rica and back a few times, maybe your investigation into Jack Donald "Don" Lewis' whereabouts drags you into some scary territory, and you need to delete the artifacts of your research.

We can run the "remove directory entries" command to get rid of it:

rm WhereIsDon.md

Now, run ls to make sure there is no trace of your research.

Remove a Directory (rm -r)

To be even more sure that you cover your tracks, let's remove the TigerKingResearch directory altogether. First, cd .. up to the directory containing your TigerKingResearch directory, and run the ls command to make sure that you are in the right place.

If you try to run the following command:

rm TigerKingResearch

You will see the following error:

rm: TigerKingResearch: is a directory

Because we are working with a directory rather than a file, we need to remove our directory recursively. Try this command instead:

rm -r TigerKingResearch

Run the ls command to make sure the TigerKingResearch is deleted for good. You should be in the clear.

For more information, run the man rm command to see the manual documentation for the rm command. Press q to escape the less program!

⚠️ You are walking into dangerous territory here with the rm command. If you are not careful, you can inadvertently delete important files with no way of undoing your mistake. Even the pros make this mistake: see how 90% of Toy Story 2 was accidentally deleted using the rm -rf * command.