Basic File Management - cp, mv, rm, touch, and Wildcards

2026-05-30 Reading time: About 14 min Difficulty: Intermediate

What You Will Achieve

• Use the main options of cp / mv / rm (-r -a -i -p -u -f) appropriately
• Create empty files and update timestamps with touch
• Create and delete directories safely with mkdir -p / rmdir
• Write wildcards (* ? [ ] [!...]) and brace expansion ({ }) correctly
• Explain that it is the shell, not the command, that expands globs

This is the core of LPIC-1 objective 103.3 "Perform basic file management". Master the patterns to do the file operations that make up most of daily work without accidents.

Which Command and Option to Choose

Choose file operations by "what you want to do" and "how to prevent accidents". The table below is the starting point.

When in doubt, make "add -i to destructive operations (rm / overwriting mv)" your default stance. The fact that rmdir fails unless empty is not a flaw but a safety valve against accidental deletion.

Using cp / mv / rm

cp - Copy and Option Differences

cp duplicates files and directories. Directories require -r (recursive). For backups, use -a, which also preserves attributes.

cp file1.txt file2.txt
cp -r src/ backup/
cp -a src/ archive/

$ ls -l file2.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 May 30 10:00 file2.txt

The main options mean the following. This assumes GNU coreutils cp.

-r means "copy the contents", while -a means "copy the contents plus fully preserve attributes, symbolic links, and timestamps". Remember -r for a simple duplicate and -a for a backup.

mv - Move and Rename

mv serves both move and rename. mv old new in the same directory is a rename, and mv file dir/ to another directory is a move. Add -i where overwriting is risky.

mv draft.txt report.txt
mv report.txt /home/user/docs/
mv -i report.txt /home/user/docs/

$ mv -i report.txt /home/user/docs/
mv: overwrite '/home/user/docs/report.txt'? n

Unlike cp, mv does not need -r to move a directory. Within the same filesystem it only rewrites the path information without moving the data itself, so it is fast.

rm - Delete and the Danger of -rf

rm deletes files. Use -r to delete directories and -f to force deletion without prompting. There is no "trash" with rm; deletion means immediate removal.

rm unwanted.txt
rm -i unwanted.txt
rm -r olddir/

$ rm -i unwanted.txt
rm: remove regular file 'unwanted.txt'? y

touch / mkdir / rmdir / file

touch - Create Empty Files and Update Timestamps

touch creates a nonexistent file as empty, and for an existing file it updates the access and modification times to the current time (without changing the content).

touch newfile.txt
touch existing.txt
touch -c missing.txt

$ ls -l --time-style=+%H:%M newfile.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 10:05 newfile.txt

Running touch on an existing file does not erase data. It is also used to manipulate the modification time, such as forcing a rebuild (make's timestamp check).

mkdir / rmdir - Create and Delete Directories

mkdir creates a directory. For a deep hierarchy whose parents do not exist, use -p to create them all at once. rmdir deletes only an empty directory.

mkdir project
mkdir -p project/src/lib
rmdir project/src/lib

$ rmdir project
rmdir: failed to remove 'project': Directory not empty

Without -p, you cannot create a directory under a nonexistent parent and get an error. That rmdir "fails unless empty" is a safety mechanism; to delete contents and all, use rm -r (which is correspondingly more dangerous).

file - Determine File Type from Content

file determines a file's type by examining its content, not its extension. It can see through a faked extension to the real entity.

file report.pdf script.sh archive.gz photo

report.pdf:  PDF document, version 1.7
script.sh:   Bourne-Again shell script, ASCII text executable
archive.gz:  gzip compressed data
photo:       JPEG image data, JFIF standard 1.01

Even photo with no extension is identified as JPEG. Checking the type with file before opening with cat and getting garbled output is a safe habit.

Wildcards and Shell Expansion

Wildcards (globs) are a mechanism to specify file-name patterns in bulk. The key point is that it is the shell, not cp or rm, that expands them. The shell replaces the pattern with actual file names before passing them to the command.

Brace expansion { } is different from globs: it mechanically generates strings regardless of whether files exist.

echo file{A,B,C}.txt
echo {1..3}.log
mkdir -p project/{src,test,docs}

fileA.txt fileB.txt fileC.txt
1.log 2.log 3.log

{A,B,C} is a comma-separated list and {1..3} is a numeric sequence. mkdir -p project/{src,test,docs} creates three directories in one shot.

ls *.nonexistent
echo *.nonexistent

ls: cannot access '*.nonexistent': No such file or directory
*.nonexistent

When a glob matches nothing, bash by default passes the pattern as is (echo prints that string, and ls says "no such file"). You can change this to "expand to empty when there are zero matches" by setting shopt -s nullglob.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

Here are the points that trip people up in both practice and the exam.

• Forgetting -r for a directory in cp: cp dir/ dst/ gives an omitting directory error. Always use -r or -a for directory copies.
• Confusing -r and -a: Use -r for a simple duplicate, and -a for a backup that preserves owner, permissions, links, and times. With -r alone the attributes change.
• Overwriting silently with mv: By default mv silently overwrites an existing file. Make -i a habit for important files.
• Running rm * in root or an important directory: It is the shell that expands the glob. Prefixing with echo as in echo rm * to confirm what it expands to is safe.
• Confused by the "not empty" error from rmdir: This is the safe behavior as designed. To delete contents and all, use rm -r, but always confirm the target.

Troubleshooting

Symptom: cp says "omitting directory" and copies nothing

Cause: Trying to copy a directory without -r (or -a)

Check:

file src

Fix: Use cp -r src/ dst/ for a directory, or cp -a src/ dst/ to also keep attributes.

Symptom: Files disappeared after running rm -rf

Cause: rm -rf deletes recursively without confirmation. rm has no undo

Check:

echo rm -rf target/

Fix: Prefix with echo to visually inspect the expansion before running. Combine with -i (rm -ri) if unsure. Deleted files can only be recovered from a backup.

Symptom: A wildcard does not match / the pattern is printed verbatim

Cause: Zero files match. bash by default passes the pattern string as is

Check:

shopt nullglob
ls -d *.txt

Fix: Recheck the target directory and extension. To make it expand to empty on zero matches, set shopt -s nullglob.

Completion Checklist

• [ ] Explained and used the difference between cp -r and cp -a
• [ ] Enabled overwrite/delete confirmation with mv -i / rm -i
• [ ] Confirmed empty-file creation and timestamp update with touch
• [ ] Confirmed the difference between mkdir -p and rmdir
• [ ] Wrote * ? [ ] and brace expansion { } distinctly
• [ ] Understood that it is the shell that expands globs

Summary

Basic file management is the most frequently used area in LPIC-1. Once you solidify this, move on to the link mechanism that points to file entities, and to the FHS and finding files, to complete the picture.