Lecture 3
Date @September 4, 2025
[Link] comp206-lesson02-Archive,
Slides
permissions, and vim - [Link]
Subject cmd line + Archives
Review:
What is an operating system?
Manage computer ressources. ex:
Memory
CPU scheduling
Allocates space for different programs
File system:
Tree structure
Everything organized into directories (folder). Directories organized into
hierarchy
Path:
The location of a specific directory/file or any data on the system
Way to traverse this tree to reach this file
Grade: 6/6
Lecture 2 Review [Link]
Lecture 3 1
Hard disk not part of the OS, it is part of the hardware. The file system that
organizes the files on the hard disk is part of the OS.
Linux is ONLY the kernel, by itself it cannot be a full operating system.
Linux distributions (distros) — NOT different implementation of Linux kernel
Linux distribution = complete operating system with Linux as the kernel
What indicates an absolute path?
Doesnt depend on which directory you are currently in
It needs to start from the root. Any path starting from the root is absolute
Starts with a forward slash. If depended, could just write cd <directory>
Both absolute and relative paths can be used as an arguments in commands
How to know if the final element in a path is a directory or a file?
You can go into the directory by adding a forward slash. If it was a file, you
would get an error
If it only has a forward slash at the end, this means it is a directory. If it
doesn’t, it might be a file or directory.
If there is no slash, there is no way of knowing if it is a file or a directory.
If you start writing and click on <tab> it will add the forward slash at the
end of the path, indicating that it is a directory and not a file.
Commands for the command line
Command Format
Command [options] [arguments]
(1) Name of program to run. command name is case sensitive
(2) Switch or flags. Adjust the behaviour of the command. Can be one or more
options. Starts with one dash - or two dashes —
(3) Indicates the targets of the command that should operate on. Eg: file
names, directory name, user-name
Lecture 3 2
Example Syntax:
$ls List elements in the current directory
$ls -l → do the listing with extra information
Didn’t give any arguments — default: the argument is the current
working directory
$ls -l /bin List elements in the directory \bin
Current Directory
pwd (present working directory) displays the current dirrectory you are in
cd (change directory) allows a user to change their current directory
ex: cd ../home
cd .. goes to parent directory of the pwd, and then /home goes to the
directory named home in the parent directory.
ex: cd with no argument brings you to the home directory.
ex: cd . doesn’t do anything since the dot represents the current working
directory
ex: cd .. changes to parent directory
ex: cd / changes to root directory (?)
ex: cd - changes to the directory you were in previously (not necessarily
the parent or home directory)
Directory Content
ls → See content of a directory
ls -a see ALL content of a directory, including hidden directories/files.
Hidden files are basically the configuration files
ls -l [Link] see a particular file in long format (in that case, [Link] file)
Directory Manipulation
Lecture 3 3
cd [directory]
Change directory
ls [options] [directory or file list]
Directory contents or file permissions
mkdir [options] directory
Make a directory
No need to have quotes when writing directory name EXCEPT if the name
you want has a space in it because a space is interpreted as a separation
between arguments.
ex: can write mkdir comp-206 . CANNOT write mkdir comp 206 . Instead, write mkdir
‘comp 206’ or mkdir “comp 206”
pwd
print working (current) directory
rmdir [options] directory
Remove an empty directory
rmdir will refuse to remove a non-existant directory, as well as a directory
that has anything in it.
File Manipulation
touch filename
Create a file if it doesn’t exist
Update the time-stamp of the file to the current time if the file already
exists
cp from to
Copy a file
From and to can be a file name in the working directory or a path
mv [options] file1 file2
move file1 into file2
Lecture 3 4
this will remove the file completely from its original directory
rm [options] file
remove (delete) a file or directory
careful, there is no going back once it is deleted!!!!
-i : interactive (cp, mv and rm)
prompt and wait for confirmation before proceeding
-r or -R : recursive (cp, rm)
it deletes the directory and everything that is inside/beneath it
When you use the -r or -R ALSO USE THE -i
-f : force (mv, rm)
don’t prompt for confirmation (overrides -i)
Archives
Collection of files combined into one file
Easier to manipulate
Often compressed so they require less space
TAR, GZIP, GUNZIP
Tar
Allows manipulation (creation, extraction) of archive files
-c : create a new archive
Going from many files to one file
-x : extract from the tar archive
Reverse operation. Going from one file to many files
-f : specifies the archive file name
Lecture 3 5
-v : activates verbose mode, which means the tar command will output lots of
information
-z : allows you to compress the archive (the archive is
compressed/decompressed using gzip)
examples:
tar -cvf [Link] *.log
create a new archive named [Link].
*.log selects all the files that end by .log
* means any number of characters of any kind
tar -zcvf [Link] *.log
compress the archive we are creating. New compressed archive file will
have gz in the extension
……..
QUESTION: What happens if we forget to put the extension in the file name
Permissions on the File Systems
All files are owned by a user and a group
Permission denied — you do not have permission to access this thing or to do
this operation
View permissions of files
ls -l /ls -l [Link]
Lecture 3 6
r — read permission
w — write permission
e — execute permission
Lecture 3 7
Example: -rw-r—r—
- means it is a file, not a directory. If it was a directory, the first
letter/element would be a d
owner has read and write permission
group has read permission only
other users have read permission only
Lecture 3 8
