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Learn to create, move, and delete files and folders from the command line — while following best practices for naming and structure.
Open your terminal and run:
pwd
→ Confirms your current location. You should be in the shell-lesson-data folder.
Move into the exercise-data/writing directory:
cd exercise-data/writing
ls -F
→ You’ll see files like haiku.txt, LittleWomen.txt.
Make a new directory named thesis:
mkdir thesis
Check that it was created:
ls -F
ls -F thesis
Make a nested structure in one command using -p:
mkdir -p ../project/data ../project/results
View the hierarchy:
ls -FR ../project
Don’t use spaces in names:
mkdir north pacific gyre
→ This actually creates three folders: north/, pacific/, and gyre/. Instead, do this:
mkdir north-pacific-gyre
Avoid starting names with a dash (-), which the shell interprets as an option.
Stick with letters, numbers, -, _, and . in names. Other characters (like * or &) have special meanings in Bash.
If you must use a name with spaces or symbols, wrap it in single quotes:
mkdir 'my folder with spaces'
This lesson builds your confidence using the shell to organize work and reinforces how naming affects your ability to navigate and automate tasks.