Operation Manual

The Linux Command Line

164

Notes:

Remove a directory

To delete a directory, go its location and type:

$ rm -r -f <directory name>

This uses the “rm” command we used above, but the extra switches tell it

to remove the directory, all its contents and also any sub-directories and

their contents.

The “-r” means “recursive”, which – in the case of a directory – removes the entire

directory and all its contents, including sub-directories. Do be very sure that you

mean this before using it – there’s no “undo” option!

The “-f” switch indicates that the action is “forced” – that is, the program will

remove write-protected ﬁles without prompting. This is also dangerous, so be

very careful when using this as well.

A safer, but less powerful, option is to use the “rmdir” command:

$ rmdir <directory name>

This will also delete directories, but only if they’re empty.

rmdir

Remove (delete) one or more directories in the current location,

provided they are empty.

Connect to a device or ﬁling system

The “mount” command allows you to connect a Unix system to external devices.

There is no “C” drive, as in Windows. What happens in Linux is that a device is

“mounted” somewhere in the ﬁling system. When you navigate to that place, the

items offered by the device will appear at that point.

This is a complex command. The switches, parameters and target of the mount

command will vary according to the protocol of the system being mounted. Some

things will “auto-mount”. This is why, when you plug an SD card into a modern

Linux system, the ﬁling system will automatically pick it up.

Manual mounting requires a “mount point”. That means a directory that will be

ﬁlled with the mounted device when it is mounted. Often, this is in the directory

“/mnt/” somewhere. Generally, before mounting new media, you must ﬁrst ensure

that there is a mount point. If there isn’t, then you must create a directory at the

point needed: for instance...

$ mkdir /mnt/netfolder