If you want a shorter list, use dirs , which stands for ‘directory short’. This lists the filenames only, in multiple columns across the screen. As with the normal directory, files are normally listed in alphabetical order, although you can alter this using the inbuilt option command. Directories are listed first, with a / preceding them, to indicate they are directories. Files can be delete d, which means they are removed from the directory. Directories can also be delete d, provided they contain no files. Wildcards can be used, or multiple filenames specified. For example, delete letter1 junkmail stuff.xrel would delete the three files named.
Files and directories can be rename d, which merely changes what they are called. Typical commands include rename geg57 geg58 , which renames the directory /geg57 so that it becomes /geg58 Notice the / in the directory listing,indicatingweare dealingwitha directoryfull offiles, notanindividual file. The same commands work with files or directories. You can copy a file, or files, or directory, thus having them in two different places, using a command such as copy *.xrel /rd/bin . This would copy all files ending with .xrel in the current directory into the /rd/bin directory (assuming that existed), under their present names.
You can also change the name of files as you copy them, by a command such as copy abc cba . Using a wildcard, such as copy abc* cba , is a mistake, because there would be more than one filename to change, but only one destination. The system will complain that the destination is not a directory in this case. A slightly subtle difference is to move a file or directory, usually to a different directory. Moving a file or directory means that only one copy of it exists, rather than two copies.
You can display the contents of a file with type , cat , or cio (there is often more than one way to do similar things with files, in this case type is for MS-DOS users, while cat is for U NIX users, and both actually use cio to do their dirtywork). Since wildcards are accepted, type *.c will show the contents of all .c files in a directory ( type will also show the filename before displaying each file if there is more than one file). For obvious reasons, type complains if you want to see a directory. You can update the time stamped on a file or directory using touch . It brings all the files specified up to today’s date, without otherwise changing them.
Handy for programmers, since many compilers are fussy about dates and times. As always, all wildcards are accepted. To help prevent accidental destruction of a file, and to keep track of when it was last backed up (saved elsewhere), you can change its lock and backup ‘attributes’ using filemode . We will cover this and other more advanced commands later. Since the computer only looks in your current directory (the one that appears in your present prompt) for a file, you can tell it to search other directories or even other disks as well by using the xpath command. Files and Directories User Tutorial Manual Page 37