Chapter 3: File and Directory Management in WSL Ubuntu

In the previous chapter, you learned how to navigate through the Linux file system using WSL Ubuntu. Now it’s time to manage what’s inside those directories — files and folders.

This chapter covers how to create, rename, move, copy, and delete files and directories using the command line. These are everyday tasks that every Linux user must master.

📁 Files and Directories in Linux

Everything in Linux is treated as a file — whether it’s a text file, folder, device, or even a process. Here’s what you need to know:

• Files hold data, scripts, configs, etc.
• Directories (folders) hold other files or directories.

🛠️ Creating Files and Directories

📌 touch – Create a File

Creates an empty file or updates the timestamp of an existing one.

touch myfile.txt

📌 mkdir – Create a Directory

Creates a new folder.

mkdir myfolder

To create nested directories:

mkdir -p projects/html/css

✏️ Renaming and Moving

📌 mv – Move or Rename

To rename a file:

mv oldname.txt newname.txt

To move a file to another directory:

mv myfile.txt /home/username/Documents

You can also move and rename at the same time:

mv myfile.txt /home/username/Docs/renamed.txt

📄 Copying Files and Directories

📌 cp – Copy Files

cp file1.txt copy_of_file1.txt

Copy to another folder:

cp file1.txt /home/username/Desktop/

📌 cp -r – Copy Directories

The -r option means “recursive” — required when copying folders.

cp -r myfolder/ backup_myfolder/

🗑️ Deleting Files and Folders

📌 rm – Remove Files

rm unwanted.txt

📌 rm -r – Remove Directories

Use recursive deletion for folders and their contents:

rm -r old_folder

⚠️ Caution!

Be very careful with rm -r. There is no recycle bin in Linux. Once deleted, it’s gone.

📋 Listing Files

We covered this in Chapter 2, but here’s a recap with more options:

ls -l         # Long listing
ls -a         # Show hidden files
ls -lh        # Human-readable sizes
ls -R         # List contents of directories recursively

🧪 Practical Exercises

Open your Ubuntu terminal and try the following:

# Step 1: Create a folder and files
mkdir tutorials
cd tutorials
touch file1.txt file2.txt

# Step 2: Create subfolders
mkdir -p html/css/js

# Step 3: Copy and rename
cp file1.txt html/
mv file2.txt renamed.txt

# Step 4: Delete a file and folder
rm renamed.txt
rm -r js

🔎 Bonus Tips

• Use tab to autocomplete file and folder names
• Use rm -i to ask for confirmation before deleting
• To view file content: cat filename.txt

✅ Summary

• touch, mkdir – Create files and folders
• mv – Move or rename
• cp – Copy files and folders
• rm – Remove with caution
• Practice in your terminal to reinforce learning

▶️ Coming Up Next

Chapter 4 – File Viewing & Text Editors in Linux
You’ll learn how to view, search, and edit files with tools like cat, less, nano, and vim.