Creating a directory

Let's start by creating a new directory for us to work in.  We do this using the mkdir command.  Type <mkdir DVU>.

You've now created a directory called "DVU".  Notice that it is in uppercase.  This is important, because unlike Windows and some other operating systems, Unix is case-sensitive.

If you want to get rid of your directory, you would use the rmdir command.  The directory must be empty for this to work.

Now let's move into our new directory using the cd command.  Type <cd DVU>.  This is where we will store our practice files.  Type <ls>.  You should see an empty directory. Congruatulations!  You can create directories now.  Directories can be several layers deep, so if you want to create a directory within /DVU you can.

Removing a directory

To remove directories, type <rmdir directory_name>.  Directories must be empty before you can remove them.

Let's go back to our "root" or "home" directory.  You could type <cd> like we talked about before, or you can type <cd ..> to move up one directory.  This is very handy if you are working in directories other than your own, or are several layers deep in a directory structure.