Assignment 1- Commands Utilities
Name: Aketi Thanuja Batch : Sep 8
1.Which command is used to know the current working directory?
Ans: pwd command is used to know the current working directory. It gives
us the absolute path, which means the path that starts from the root.
Syntax: $ pwd
2.How would you find out its contents?
Ans: ls command is used to find the contents of a file or directory.
Syntax: $ ls filename
3.Identify the commands with inputs to do the following
a.create a directory d1
Syntax: $ mkdir dir name(d1)
b.create a subdirectory d2 in d1
Syntax: $ mkdir -p ./d1/d2
c.change to directory d2
Syntax: $ cd d2
d.create an empty file “f1.txt”
Syntax: 1. $ cat >>f1.txt
2. $ touch f1.txt
3. $ echo >f1.txt
e.display the contents of “f1.txt”
Syntax: $ cat f1.txt
f.view the contents of d1 from current directory d2
Syntax: $diff -r d1 d2
4.Use the ls command with its options. How will you identify directories
from the listing?
Ans: 1. $ ls *: This command will list the content of all subdirectories.
2. $ ls -l : Tells the size of the file along with its permissions,
modification etc.
3. $ ls -a: To view hidden files
4. $ ls -f: To identify directories and executable files.
5. $ ls -r: List files in reverse order
To identify the directories from the listing we can use
a.$ ls -l
b.$ ls -lh
c. $ ls -l|grep ‘^d’
5.Use ls to do the following
a.List files with single character names.
Ans: Syntax: $ echo ?
b.List hidden files also. [ Note : Hidden files are files having name
started with a “.” ]
Ans: Syntax: $ ls -a
c.Suppose there are files tb1.1, tb2.1, tb3.1, ….tb10.1. Write command
to list all the files [Hint: use wild card characters]
Ans: Syntax: $ ls *
6.Write the command to list all files in descending order of their size.
Ans: Syntax: $ ls -S
7.Suppose there are files temp1, temp2, temp3. Write command to
remove the files without listing them explicitly
Ans: Syntax: 1. $ rmdir temp1 temp2 temp3 (To delete empty directories)
2. $ rm temp1 temp2 temp3
8.Which command is used to list top few lines in the file?
Ans: Head command is used to list the top few lines of a file
Syntax: $ head filename
9.Create a directory “testdir”
Ans: Syntax: $ mkdir testdir
10.Use cp command to do the following
a.Copy the file tb1.1 (created above) in the same directory.
Ans: Syntax: $ cp tb1.1 testdir
b.Write a command to copy all the files i.e tb1.1,tb2.1,tb3.1,…..tb10.1 in
a new directory –“new”
Ans: Syntax: $ cp tb1.1 tb1.1 tb2.1 tb3.1 tb4.1 tb5.1 tb6.1 tb7.1 tb8.1 tb9.1
tb10.1 new
c.Create a subdirectory in new in named“new1”.
Ans: Syntax: $ mkdir -p ./new/new1
d.Write a command to copy selectively only tb2.1, tb6.1, tb7.1 and
tb10.1 in the directory new1.
Ans: Syntax: $ cp tb2.1 tb6.1 tb10.1 new1
e.Write a command to copy the entire directory “new” to a directory
“newprogs”. [Note : use the –R option of “cp” command ]
Ans: Syntax: $ cp -R new newprogs
11.Find out the difference between
a.“mv” & “cp”
Ans: mv- Moving files or directories from one location to the other
cp- Copying files into a directory or copying directories from one
location to the another.
b.“rm”, “rmdir”
Ans: rm- It is used to delete files or directory
rmdir- It is used to delete a directory. But it can only be used to delete
an empty directory
c.“mkdir” and “mkdir -p”
Ans: mkdir- It is used to create a directory
mkdir -p : Making multiple directories inside a directory
12.Use a single command rmdir once to remove “testdir” and all its sub
directories and files created above.
Ans: Syntax: $ rm -R testdir
13.Which command is used to get the manual information of a
command?
Ans: man command
Syntax: $ man commandname
14.If you are not able to change to a directory what could be the likely
cause?
Ans: Because the user did not the give the permission to write and execute.
The directory is given the permission to read only.
15.Explain the differences among the following commands:
a.cd / - It is used to go to the absolute path of the directory
b.cd .. - To move one level from the current directory
c.cd - Used to change the path of the directory
d.cd ../.. - To move two levels up from the current directory
