Some useful Linux commands

Copy files from one folder to another

The below will command will copy all files inside the source folder to the destination folder.

cp path/to/source/* path/to/destination

This will not copy sub-folders and files in it.


cp -r path/to/source/* path/to/destination

or

cp -a path/to/source/* path/to/destination

This will recursively copy folders, sub-folders, and files in it.

Rename a folder

MV path/to/old path/to/new

Change read/write/access/owner/group permissions of a folder

CHMOD [XYZ] path/to/folder

X - Will affect Owner permissions
Y - Will affect Group permissions
Z - Will affect Others permissions

[X, Y & Z] will be calculated from below

0 – no permission
1 – execute
2 – write
3 – write and execute
4 – read
5 – read and execute
6 – read and write
7 – read, write, and execute

For example, if we want to give Read, write and execute permission to Owner, Read & Execute permissions to Group and read permission to Others, we have to execute the command like below

CHMOD 754 path/to/folder

Change ownership of a folder or file with current user

sudo chown -R $USER /path/to/folder