Why do all the sudo? [was Re: Software updater no longer functional]

[Ralf Mardorf]

IMO you should start with the commands "cd", "ls", "cp", "mv", "rm" and
"rmdir" in the /tmp directory and learn to understand "globbing" basics
by only using the "*" wildcard and the "?" wildcard.

To add a directory use the command "mkdir" and to add an empty text file
use "touch".

You might notice the used arguments, that seem to do some magic.

To understand them in combination with the given examples the "--help"
option most commands provide often all is needed to understand what they
are doing.

For example run

  ls --help

Reading the following examples doesn't help, but if you are doing such
simple experiments you'll understand it step by step.

[weremouse at moonstudio ~]$ cd /tmp/
[weremouse at moonstudio tmp]$ mkdir hello_world
[weremouse at moonstudio tmp]$ cd hello_world/
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -l
total 0
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ mkdir dir_1 dir_2
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -l
total 0
drwxrwxr-x 2 weremouse weremouse 40 Jan 28 15:45 dir_1
drwxrwxr-x 2 weremouse weremouse 40 Jan 28 15:45 dir_2
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -l dir_1/ dir_2/
dir_1/:
total 0

dir_2/:
total 0
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -l *
dir_1:
total 0

dir_2:
total 0
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -ld *
drwxrwxr-x 2 weremouse weremouse 40 Jan 28 15:45 dir_1
drwxrwxr-x 2 weremouse weremouse 40 Jan 28 15:45 dir_2
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ touch dir_1/a.txt dir_1/b.txt dir_1/.hidden_file.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -l *
dir_1:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 b.txt

dir_2:
total 0
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -lA *
dir_1:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 b.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 .hidden_file.txt

dir_2:
total 0
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ cp dir_1/* dir_2/
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -lA *
dir_1:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 b.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 .hidden_file.txt

dir_2:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 b.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -lA */*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 dir_1/a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 dir_1/b.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 dir_2/a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 dir_2/b.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -lA dir_1/*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 dir_1/a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 dir_1/b.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -lA dir_2/*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 dir_2/a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 dir_2/b.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -lA *
dir_1:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 b.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 .hidden_file.txt

dir_2:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 b.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ cd dir_1/
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA *
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 b.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA ../*
../dir_1:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 b.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 .hidden_file.txt

../dir_2:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 b.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ mv a.txt x.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA *
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 b.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 x.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ mv b.txt bb.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA *
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 bb.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 x.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA ?????
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 x.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA ??????
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 bb.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA ../dir_2/*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 ../dir_2/a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 ../dir_2/b.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ mv x.txt ../dir_2/
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA ../dir_2/*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 ../dir_2/a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 ../dir_2/b.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 ../dir_2/x.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA ../dir_1/*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 ../dir_1/bb.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ mv bb.txt ../dir_2/y.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA ../dir_2/*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 ../dir_2/a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 ../dir_2/b.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 ../dir_2/x.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 ../dir_2/y.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ ls -lA ../*
../dir_1:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 .hidden_file.txt

../dir_2:
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 a.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:47 b.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 x.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 y.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio dir_1]$ cd ../
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -l
total 0
drwxrwxr-x 2 weremouse weremouse  60 Jan 28 16:00 dir_1
drwxrwxr-x 2 weremouse weremouse 120 Jan 28 16:00 dir_2
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -lA dir_1/
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 weremouse weremouse 0 Jan 28 15:46 .hidden_file.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ rm dir_1/*
rm: cannot remove 'dir_1/*': No such file or directory  
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ rm dir_1/.hidden_file.txt
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -lA dir_1
total 0
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -l
total 0
drwxrwxr-x 2 weremouse weremouse  40 Jan 28 16:04 dir_1
drwxrwxr-x 2 weremouse weremouse 120 Jan 28 16:00 dir_2
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ rm *
rm: cannot remove 'dir_1': Is a directory
rm: cannot remove 'dir_2': Is a directory
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ rmdir *
rmdir: failed to remove 'dir_2': Directory not empty
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ rm -Ir dir_2/
rm: remove 1 argument recursively? y
[weremouse at moonstudio hello_world]$ ls -lA
total 0