This is a publication of University Computing Services, Indiana University, Bloomington. Copyright 1993, Trustees of Indiana University. This UCS publication was designed to be displayed online using a monospace font such as Courier. This section provides you with the basic file handling skills you need to begin exploring the UNIX operating system. When you've completed this section, you'll be able to create, view, print, copy, rename, move, and remove files, as well as create, list, and remove directories.
Most files are ordinary data files.
Textual documents, statistical data, program source code, and executable code are all examples of ordinary data files. Directories are also considered files. UNIX directory files hold the information necessary to make these relationships possible. Even physical devices are considered files. Terminals, printers, and tape drives are given special filenames you can use to access those devices.