File Handling

File handling is a core part of Linux scripting: creating, copying, moving, syncing, compressing, comparing, finding and validating files safely.

Core Commands

Command	What it does	Example
`touch`	Create empty file	`touch app.log`
`mkdir -p`	Create nested directories	`mkdir -p /opt/apps/config`
`cp`	Copy files	`cp app.jar /opt/apps/`
`cp -r`	Copy directories	`cp -r config/ backup/`
`mv`	Move or rename	`mv old.log archive.log`
`rm`	Remove file	`rm temp.txt`
`rm -rf`	Remove recursively	`rm -rf temp/`
`find`	Find by name/type/size	`find /var/log -name '*.log'`
`tar`	Archive and compress	`tar -czvf backup.tar.gz app/`
`zip/unzip`	Zip archive management	`zip -r app.zip app/`
`rsync`	Fast sync and copy	`rsync -avz logs/ user@host:/backup/`
`diff`	Compare text files	`diff a.yml b.yml`
`stat`	Show metadata	`stat app.jar`
`md5sum`	Verify checksum	`md5sum app.jar`

cp -v source target
mv -v old new
rm -i important.txt
rsync -avzn source/ target/   # dry run first
find . -type f -name '*.log' -mtime +7 -delete

du -sh *
find . -type f | wc -l
find /data -type f -size +500M
ls -ltr
file app.jar