Working with the Directory Structure using a Unix Shell

Following are some tasks which will help you learn how to view and manipulate the directory structure using a Unix shell on a Linux workstation.

• Open up a Shell or Terminal.

  A shell (also known as terminal or xterm ) is a program that allows you to issue commands to the computer's operating system. Unfortunately, these commands are often somewhat arcane and difficult to remember. Fortunately, there aren't many commands that you need to remember.

  On a Linux workstation, you may already have at least one shell window open when you login. If you do not click on the K menu then Applications then xterm.

  You will be presented with a command line prompt from which you can issue commands. How it looks will vary from person to person, but will probably end with the character ``%'' or possibly ``>''

• Find out your present working directory.

  As described before, each computer user at Gustavus has a home directory that is stored on the central file server. When you start up a shell, the present working directory is your home directory. To see what that is, type pwd. (You must press the ``Enter'' key to actually issue the command.) Do so. Your home directory should end with your username.

• View your home directory.

  You can view the present working directory by entering the command ls. This will list all files and directories in the present working directory.

  To get a more informative listing, type ls -l. This gives more information about the files and directories.

• Add some sub-directories (also known as folders) to your home directory.

  To add a directory called MCS-177 into your home directory, type mkdir MCS-177. Do so, and then type ls -l to see that the new sub-directory has been added.

• Move to the MCS-177 subdirectory and create a subdirectory called ``Lab0.''

  You can move to MCS-177 by typing cd MCS-177 (think of cd as change directory). Do so, and then use mkdir to create Lab0.