File structure

1 Computer file structure

  • Your computer files and folders can all be accessed via the ‘Terminal’.

  • This is the location of a file called greeting.txt on my computer.

  • The exact same file can be found via the terminal.

2 Basics of the terminal

ls List files

pwd Print working directory

cd Change directories

less Show preview in terminal (quit by hitting “q”)

mv Move file

mkdir Make a new folder or directory

2.1 Activity

Pull up the last document you opened on your computer. Repeat this in terminal. What is the path location of that file?

less Desktop/secret_folder/topsecret/greetings.txt

2.2 Activity

How would you move a file titled “tmp.csv” from your current directory to one called archived-files?

# mv [file] [location]

2.3 Activity

Create a new directory in r-intro-docs called HELLO. Move greeting.txt to that new directory. What is the full path of greeting.txt?

3 Pro tips for organizing & naming files

  • Use a consistent theme in file naming

  • Do not use spaces or special symbols. Dashes and underscores are helpful! (avoid using periods in file names too)

  • Capitalization matters (and can be helpful)

  • What else?