The zsh/files
module makes available some common commands for file
manipulation as builtins; these commands are probably not needed for
many normal situations but can be useful in emergency recovery
situations with constrained resources. The commands do not implement
all features now required by relevant standards committees.
For all commands, a variant beginning zf_
is also available and loaded
automatically. Using the features capability of zmodload will let you load
only those names you want. Note that it’s possible to load only the
builtins with zsh-specific names using the following command:
zmodload -m -F zsh/files b:zf_\*
The commands loaded by default are:
chgrp
[ -hRs
] group filename ...Changes group of files specified. This is equivalent to chown
with
a user-spec argument of ‘:
group’.
chmod
[ -Rs
] mode filename ...Changes mode of files specified.
The specified mode must be in octal.
The -R
option causes chmod
to recursively descend into directories,
changing the mode of all files in the directory after
changing the mode of the directory itself.
The -s
option is a zsh extension to chmod
functionality. It enables
paranoid behaviour, intended to avoid security problems involving
a chmod
being tricked into affecting files other than the ones
intended. It will refuse to follow symbolic links, so that (for example)
{No value for ‘dsbq’}chmod 600 /tmp/foo/passwd
{No value for ‘dsq’} can’t accidentally chmod /etc/passwd
if /tmp/foo
happens to be a link to /etc
. It will also check
where it is after leaving directories, so that a recursive chmod of
a deep directory tree can’t end up recursively chmoding /usr
as
a result of directories being moved up the tree.
chown
[ -hRs
] user-spec filename ...Changes ownership and group of files specified.
The user-spec can be in four forms:
change owner to user; do not change group
::
change owner to user; do not change group
:
change owner to user; change group to user’s primary group
:
groupchange owner to user; change group to group
:
groupdo not change owner; change group to group
In each case, the ‘:
’ may instead be a ‘.
’. The rule is that
if there is a ‘:
’ then the separator is ‘:
’, otherwise
if there is a ‘.
’ then the separator is ‘.
’, otherwise
there is no separator.
Each of user and group may be either a username (or group name, as appropriate) or a decimal user ID (group ID). Interpretation as a name takes precedence, if there is an all-numeric username (or group name).
If the target is a symbolic link, the -h
option causes chown
to set
the ownership of the link instead of its target.
The -R
option causes chown
to recursively descend into directories,
changing the ownership of all files in the directory after
changing the ownership of the directory itself.
The -s
option is a zsh extension to chown
functionality. It enables
paranoid behaviour, intended to avoid security problems involving
a chown
being tricked into affecting files other than the ones
intended. It will refuse to follow symbolic links, so that (for example)
{No value for ‘dsbq’}chown luser /tmp/foo/passwd
{No value for ‘dsq’} can’t accidentally chown /etc/passwd
if /tmp/foo
happens to be a link to /etc
. It will also check
where it is after leaving directories, so that a recursive chown of
a deep directory tree can’t end up recursively chowning /usr
as
a result of directories being moved up the tree.
ln
[ -dfhins
] filename destln
[ -dfhins
] filename ... dirCreates hard (or, with -s
, symbolic) links. In the first form, the
specified destination is created, as a link to the specified
filename. In the second form, each of the filenames is
taken in turn, and linked to a pathname in the specified directory
that has the same last pathname component.
Normally, ln
will not attempt to create hard links to
directories. This check can be overridden using the -d
option.
Typically only the super-user can actually succeed in creating
hard links to directories.
This does not apply to symbolic links in any case.
By default, existing files cannot be replaced by links.
The -i
option causes the user to be queried about replacing
existing files. The -f
option causes existing files to be
silently deleted, without querying. -f
takes precedence.
The -h
and -n
options are identical and both exist for
compatibility; either one indicates that if the target is a symlink
then it should not be dereferenced.
Typically this is used in combination with -sf
so that if an
existing link points to a directory then it will be removed,
instead of followed.
If this option is used with multiple filenames and the target
is a symbolic link pointing to a directory then the result is
an error.
mkdir
[ -p
] [ -m
mode ] dir ...Creates directories. With the -p
option, non-existing parent
directories are first created if necessary, and there will be
no complaint if the directory already exists.
The -m
option can be used to specify (in octal) a set of file permissions
for the created directories, otherwise mode 777 modified by the current
umask
(see umask(2)) is used.
mv
[ -fi
] filename destmv
[ -fi
] filename ... dirMoves files. In the first form, the specified filename is moved to the specified destination. In the second form, each of the filenames is taken in turn, and moved to a pathname in the specified directory that has the same last pathname component.
By default, the user will be queried before replacing any file
that the user cannot write to, but writable files will be silently
removed.
The -i
option causes the user to be queried about replacing
any existing files. The -f
option causes any existing files to be
silently deleted, without querying. -f
takes precedence.
Note that this mv
will not move files across devices.
Historical versions of mv
, when actual renaming is impossible,
fall back on copying and removing files; if this behaviour is desired,
use cp
and rm
manually. This may change in a future version.
rm
[ -dfiRrs
] filename ...Removes files and directories specified.
Normally, rm
will not remove directories (except with the -R
or -r
options). The -d
option causes rm
to try removing directories
with unlink
(see unlink(2)), the same method used for files.
Typically only the super-user can actually succeed in unlinking
directories in this way.
-d
takes precedence over -R
and -r
.
By default, the user will be queried before removing any file
that the user cannot write to, but writable files will be silently
removed.
The -i
option causes the user to be queried about removing
any files. The -f
option causes files to be
silently deleted, without querying, and suppresses all error indications.
-f
takes precedence.
The -R
and -r
options cause rm
to recursively descend into
directories, deleting all files in the directory before removing the directory
with the rmdir
system call (see rmdir(2)).
The -s
option is a zsh extension to rm
functionality. It enables
paranoid behaviour, intended to avoid common security problems involving
a root-run rm
being tricked into removing files other than the ones
intended. It will refuse to follow symbolic links, so that (for example)
{No value for ‘dsbq’}rm /tmp/foo/passwd
{No value for ‘dsq’} can’t accidentally remove /etc/passwd
if /tmp/foo
happens to be a link to /etc
. It will also check
where it is after leaving directories, so that a recursive removal of
a deep directory tree can’t end up recursively removing /usr
as
a result of directories being moved up the tree.
rmdir
dir ...Removes empty directories specified.
sync
Calls the system call of the same name (see sync(2)), which flushes dirty buffers to disk. It might return before the I/O has actually been completed.