Making, writing, moving

Four commands cover work with files and folders: mkdir makes a folder, cp copies, mv moves (or renames; the two are the same job), rm deletes. They all have the same shape: the command, then what it works on.

1mkdir -p backups/2024
2echo "first line" > log.txt
3echo "second line" >> log.txt
4cp log.txt backups/2024/
5mv log.txt old.txt

mkdir -p makes the missing folders in between as well. echo writes the text you give it; > sends that output to a file instead of the screen and writes the file from scratch, while >> adds to its end. cp source target, mv source target: if the target is a folder, the file goes inside it.

The short additions that change how a command behaves are options, and they start with -: ls -l lists with details, rm -r deletes a folder with everything in it. If you do not remember a command's options, type help here; in a real terminal, man command.

Tasks