BOSS-Linux/C2/File-System/English-timed

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Time Narration
00:00 Welcome to this spoken tutorial on Linux File System.
00:04 I am using Linux Operating system.
00:08 We assume that you know how to get started with the Linux operating system and have some basic idea about commands.
00:16 If you are interested, it is available through another spoken tutorial, on the following website http://spoken-tutorial.org
00:28 Also note that linux is case sensitive.
00:32 All the commands used in this tutorial are in lower case unless otherwise mentioned.
00:41 In Linux almost everything is a file.
00:44 So what is a file? In real life we know that a file is where we store our documents and papers.
00:54 Similarly in Linux a file is a container for storing information.
01:00 Next what is a directory?
01:03 A directory can be understood as a collection of files and other (sub)directories.
01:10 A directory helps us in organising our files in a systematic manner.
01:16 This is like what we call folders in Windows.
01:20 It allows different users to have their own directories with their files which others cannot access or modify.
01:30 Also if there are no directories, all the files on the system need to have unique names,which would be very difficult to maintain.
01:41 These definitions of files and directories are good to get a general feel about them, they are not entirely accurate.
01:51 As well as its contents, a file has a name and some properties, or “administrative information”; that is, the file’s creation/modification date and its permissions.
02:05 Thus properties are stored in the file’s inode, a special block of data in the file system that also contains the length of the file and where on the disk it’s stored.
02:20 The system uses the number of the file’s inode ; the directory structure just names the file for our benefit as its easier for us to remember names than larger numbers.
02:35 Contrary to its oversimplified definition, a directory doesnot actually store other files ,it is itself a file that holds the inode numbers and names of other files.
02:49 In fact in Linux there are three kinds of files:
02:54 Regular Files or Ordinary files: It contains only data , as a stream of characters.
03:01 Directories: As we just saw in the previous slides.
03:07 Device Files: All hardware devices and peripherals are represented as files in Linux.
03:14 A CD, a Harddisk or even an usb stick, everything is a file in Linux. But why is this so? This helps to read and write these devices in a way similar to that for ordinary files.
03:32 All files in Linux are related, in short all form a family much like we do.
03:39 A directory containing say some files and subdirectories will have a parent – child relationship with each other. This gives rise to the Linux File System Tree.
03:52 At the top is the root( denoted by a frontslash /). It contains all the other files and directories.
04:04 This also helps in easy navigation from one file or directory to other, if we know the correct path.
04:12 As we work with a Linux file system, it seems that we are moving along this tree.
04:18 One command and there you are teleported from one place to other.
04:24 Sounds interesting!! Indeed it is. As we will see.
04:29 When we login into the Linux system we are by default in a home directory.
04:36 Now Switch to the terminal.
04:39 To see the home directory , Type at the command prompt "'echo space dollar H-O-M-E in capital"' and press enter.
04:53 This gives the pathname of our home directory.
04:57 We can move around from one directory to other.
05:01 But any time we can be in one directory and this directory is known as the current directory or working directory.
05:09 The pwd command helps us to see the current directory. pwd stands for present working directory.
05:18 Type at the command prompt '"pwd'" and press enter. Now this is our present working directory.
05:28 We have said that we can move from one directory to other.
05:32 But how do we do so? We have the cd command for this purpose.
05:39 You have to type the command cd followed by the pathname of the directory you want to move to.
05:47 Lets again see our current directory by typing pwd at the command prompt and press enter.
05:57 So, now we are placed in this directory.
06:01 Now say we want to move to slash usr directory. So, type "'cd space slash usr'" . Remember here slash in linux means front slash and press enter.
06:17 Now lets see our current directory. Type pwd and press enter.
06:24 Yes we have moved to slash usr directory.
06:30 The problem here is the pathnames can be very long, this is because these are Absolute Pathnames that enlist the entire path staring from the root directory.
06:42 Instead we may use Relative pathnames that begin from the current directory.
06:48 Here we need to know two special characters. dot that represent the current directory and dot dot that represent the parent directory of the current directory.
07:02 Now let us have a brief session on cd command
07:06 The command cd without any argument is used to move back that to the home directory.
07:13 Type at the command prompt "'cd'" and press enter.
07:19 Now check our current directory by the pwd command.
07:23 So, now we are back in our home directory /home/gnuhata [ slash home slash gnuhata ]
07:30 Now let us move to music directory. Type at the command prompt "'cd space Music(M in capital) slash"' and press enter
07:43 Now check our current directory by the pwd command. pwd and press enter. See, we have moved /home/gnuhata/Music
07:57 Let us go to the parent directory of Music. For that you have to use cd command with dot dot.
08:04 Type at the command prompt cd space dot dot and press enter.
08:11 Now check our present directory by typing pwd. We are again in /home/gnuhata
08:23 Now lets try to move to a subdirectory of the current directory using dot.
08:30 Type at the command prompt cd space dot slash Documents(D in capital) slash. Press enter.
08:42 Check our current directory by typing pwd. We are at /home/gnuhata/Documents
08:53 Let me clear the screen by pressing control L. So you can see clearly.
08:58 To go back to our home directory by cd command. Type cd and press enter.
09:07 Again check our current directory by pwd command. We are back to /home/gnuhata .
09:17 We can combine any number of dot dot separated by slash in a relative path .
09:23 In this slide, we can see the file system hierarchy. Root or slash is at the top. home and bin are two sub-directories under root. username , here the directory named gnuhata is a sub-directory under home.
09:43 So, now we are in /home/gnuhata. Now how can we go to the bin directory?
09:51 Type at the command prompt "'cd space dot dot slash dot dot slash bin'" and press enter.
10:03 Check our current directory by the command pwd. We are at /bin (slash bin)
10:11 The first .. (dot dot) takes us from /home/gnuhata (slash home slash gnuhata) to /home (slash home)
10:18 The next takes us from slash home to root.
10:24 Now from root or slash, we have moved to /bin directory.
10:30 Go back to our home directory by the command cd.
10:34 To create a directory we use the mkdir command.
10:40 You have to type the command and name of directory to be created and a directory would be created under the current directory.
10:49 To create a directory named testdir, type the command '"mkdir space testdir'" and press enter.
11:01 This creates the testdir directory successfully.
11:05 Note that, there is no explicit notification of successful directory creation or removal.
11:13 If you do not get any error message, it denotes successful execution.
11:18 We can also use the relative or absolute pathname to create a directory anywhere in the tree provided we have the permission to do so and a directory by that name does not already exist.
11:33 This process can be used for making multiple directories or even a hierarchy of directories.
11:39 Type "'mkdir space test1 space test2 and press enter ,this will make two directories named test1 and test2 under the present directory.
11:57 Type "'mkdir space testtree space testtree slash test3'".
12:11 This will make a directory testtree and another directory test3 which is a sub-directory under testtree.
12:20 So, we have created four directories namely testdir,test1,test2 and testtree in the current directory, out of which first three are empty and the last one contains a subdirectory namely test3.
12:40 Similar to the mkdir is the rmdir command which is used for removing a directory or directories.
12:50 The command "'rmdir space test1'" removes the test1 directory successfully.
13:00 A directory can be removed only if you are its owner, your current directory is hierarchically above the directory to be removed and the directory is empty.
13:13 Now type at the command prompt '"cd space testtree slash test3"'
13:25 So, we are now in test3 directory which is a subdirectory under testtree.
13:33 Lets try to remove the testdir directory by typing the command '"rmdir space testdir'". Press enter.
13:46 We see it can't be done, because the current directory is not hierarchically above the directory to be removed.
13:54 So,we have to go to the directory which is hierarchically above testdir directory.
14:00 Type "'cd space dot dot"' and press enter.
14:06 Now, go back to our parent directory by typing the command "'cd space dot dot'".
14:13 Now, again try the previous command.
14:16 Type "rmdir space testdir". Press enter.
14:23 The testdir directory is successfully deleted. Note that, testdir directory was also empty.
14:32 Multiple directories or a hierarchy of directories can be removed at once.So, try to delete the testtree directory along with its subdirectory test3.
14:43 Type at the command prompt '"rmdir space testtree space testtree slash test3'" press enter.
14:57 See, it is giving the error message that testree directory cannot be removed because testtree is not empty.
15:07 But one thing which you may miss is that testtree slash test3 has been deleted as it was empty.
15:16 To check that, type at the command prompt "'cd space testtree"' and press enter.
15:25 Now type "'ls'" and press enter. See, the directory contains nothing. So, test3 was deleted.
15:34 So in this linux tutorial we have learnt about Linux Files and directories and how to work with Linux Directories. See them, move between them, make them,remove them.
15:48 This brings me to the end of this tutorial. Spoken Tutorials are a part of the Talk to a Teacher project, supported by the National Mission on Education through ICT.
16:02 More information this is available at the following link
16:08 This is Anusha Kadambala signing off. Thanks for joining.

Contributors and Content Editors

PoojaMoolya, Sandhya.np14