Top Ten Concepts for Linux Beginners – Number 1, files

Posted on August 28, 2010, 11:57 am

Of course, if you’re used to Microsoft Windows, you know the concept of files. This familiarity means that you will not have to start from scratch to learn about the Linux files. However, you will learn several concepts and techniques for working with files in the Linux environment, whether using Damn Small Linux or other versions. You can do many great things with Linux files that you can not easily or not at all under Windows. This could be one more reason to switch from Windows to Linux. The files have unique names. This rule is not as simple as it sounds. There is no conflict between a hard disk file named pay12june and a file named pay12june on your removable USB flash drive. In fact, do not forget to backup all your important files. Do not worry if your file is erased from the HDD or is damaged and unreadable, just go to one of your flash drive. You could also have two files named pay12june on your hard disk in different directories. Directory, directories and collections of files, will be discussed in the next article in this series. Linux distinguishes between uppercase and lowercase characters in file names. Microsoft Windows does not work. For example, Linux treats and pay12june Pay12june that two different files, and as different as pay12june heighho. Windows users must adapt to this significant difference. Although I am a Linux fan, I see no advantage to the way Linux naming files. Maybe I spent too much time in the Windows environment. File names should be relatively short. The maximum allowed is 255 characters, but working with long file names is not funny and in fact, is asking for trouble. Linux file names can not contain the character / which has a special meaning. To avoid any misunderstanding do not include special characters such as $ and & in your filenames. This could be confusing and lead to hard to find errors. For the same reason not to call your files with special names, such as Linux, etc. Linux sometimes applies file extensions, common examples. c to indicate a program in C and. htm or. html to indicate a type of webpage. Savvy Linux users often avoid coding the file extension, but rely on the file directory to indicate the type of file. Do not give a Linux file extension File misleading. Use an editor to create or edit a text file. The vi editor at the former was replaced by more powerful, user-friendly editors. Most versions of Linux come with several publishers. Damn Small Linux, a popular version that runs on Windows, includes multiple publishers such as the beaver come close to being intuitive. Linux offers a wide variety of commands for processing files. Many of these commands are mnemonic, such as the cp command is used to copy files. Many commands include a wide variety of options. Consider the ls command, somewhat similar to the DIR command in the Windows environment. This seemingly simple command is very rich and offers dozens and dozens of options many of which have no equivalent in the Windows environment. Linux commands can be considered as verbs. As the most sentences in English are more of a verb (go, jump) complete Linux commands contain the command itself and one or more objects. To copy a file that you need to specify not only PC, but what and where. For example, cp backuparea pay12june means copy the file in the directory pay12june backuparea. Linux syntax (grammar rules) is quite strict and it takes time to learn. But mastering Linux and associated technologies can lead to employment. The next step is to master Linux directories.