Creating, moving, and removing files

Once you can navigate, the next step is changing things: creating files, organizing directories, and removing what you no longer need.

Create an empty file — touch

touch notes.txt

touch updates the timestamps on a file. If the file does not exist, it creates an empty one.

touch a.txt b.txt c.txt    # create multiple files at once

Create a directory — mkdir

mkdir my-folder
mkdir -p a/b/c             # create nested directories at once

The -p flag creates parent directories as needed. Without it, mkdir a/b/c fails if a/b does not already exist.

Copy files — cp

cp notes.txt notes-backup.txt
cp -r my-folder/ my-folder-backup/    # copy a directory recursively

• -r (or -R) copies directories recursively. Required for directories.
• -i prompts before overwriting an existing file.

cp -i source.txt dest.txt    # asks for confirmation if dest.txt exists

Move and rename — mv

mv notes.txt documents/notes.txt    # move
mv old-name.txt new-name.txt        # rename

mv both moves and renames. They are the same operation — the filesystem sees a path change.

Like cp, use -i to prompt before overwriting.

Remove files — rm

rm notes.txt
rm -r my-folder/          # remove a directory and everything inside it
rm -i important.txt       # prompt before removing

• -r removes directories recursively.
• -f forces removal without prompting, even if the file does not exist.
• -i prompts before each removal.

Remove an empty directory — rmdir

rmdir empty-folder

rmdir only removes empty directories. If the directory has contents, it fails. Use rm -r instead for non-empty directories.

Glob patterns

Glob patterns let you match multiple files at once:

rm *.txt                 # remove all .txt files in the current directory
cp *.md backup/          # copy all markdown files
ls src/**/*.ts           # all .ts files in src/ and subdirectories (with globstar)

Common patterns:

• * — matches any characters (except /)
• *.txt — all files ending in .txt
• *.* — all files with an extension
• ?.txt — any single character followed by .txt (e.g. a.txt)

In bash/zsh, ** matches across directories when globstar is enabled:

shopt -s globstar        # bash: enable **
# zsh supports ** by default

Previewing before destructive actions

Before running a command that deletes or overwrites, preview what it would affect:

# Instead of this:
rm *.log

# Run this first:
ls *.log                 # see what would be removed
rm -i *.log              # then remove with confirmation prompts

Or use echo to preview a command:

echo rm *.log            # prints the expanded command without running it

A safe workflow example

mkdir project
cd project
touch README.txt
mkdir src
cp README.txt src/README-backup.txt
ls -la                   # verify everything looks right
mv src/README-backup.txt src/README.txt
rm README.txt            # remove the original

The main idea to carry forward

touch, mkdir, cp, mv, and rm are the basic file manipulation toolkit. Use -i when you want safety, -r when working with directories, and always preview with ls before running destructive commands. Glob patterns let you operate on many files at once.