Creating, copying, moving, and deleting files in Linux

File Operations You Will Use Every Day

These five commands — touch, mkdir, cp, mv, rm — cover all basic file management. The danger is in rm: Linux has no trash bin by default. Deleted means gone.

Creating Files and Directories

# Create an empty file (or update its timestamp)
touch app.log

# Create nested directories in one command
mkdir -p projects/backend/src

# Create multiple files at once
touch index.js package.json .env

Copying and Moving

# Copy file
cp config.json config.json.bak

# Copy entire directory recursively
cp -r src/ src_backup/

# Move or rename
mv old_name.txt new_name.txt
mv file.txt /var/www/html/

Deleting Safely

# Delete a file
rm file.txt

# Delete directory and contents recursively
# WARNING: no confirmation, no undo
rm -rf build/

# Safer: use -i flag for interactive confirmation
rm -ri build/

Never run rm -rf / or rm -rf ~ or rm -rf * in your home directory. These wipe everything. Modern systems block the first one, but the others are fair game.