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07-File-Types.md

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File Types in Linux

In this section, we will take a look at different types of files in linux.

  • Everything is a file in Linux.
    • Every object in linux can be considered to be a type of file, even a directory for example is a special type of file.

There are three types of files.

  1. Regular File
  2. Directory
  3. Special Files

file-types

Special files are again catagorized into five other file types.

  1. Character Files
    • These files represent devices under the /dev file system.
    • Examples include the devices such as the keyboard and mouse.
  2. Block Files
    • These files represent block devices also located under /dev/ file system.
    • Examples include the harddisks and RAM
  3. Links
    • Links in linux is a way to associate two or more file names to the same set of file data.
    • There are two types of links
      • The Hard Link
      • The Soft Link
  4. Sockets
    • A sockets is a special file that enables the communication between two processes.
  5. Named Pipes

    • The Named Pipes is a special type of file that allows connecting one process as an input to another

      file-types1

Let us now see how to identify different file types in Linux.

One way to identify a file type is by making use of the file command.

$ file /home/michael
$ flle bash-script.sh
$ file insync1000.sock
$ file /home/michael/bash-script

Another way to identify a file type is by making use of the ls -ld command

ls -ld /home/michael
ls -l basg-script.sh

file-types2