Utilize wildcards in commands

[jbeadling]

Ticket: Utilize Wildcards in Commands

---

Summary

Learn how to utilize wildcards (*, ?, [...]) in command-line commands for more flexible and efficient operations in a Unix-like operating system.

---

Description

• Objective: Understand the concept of wildcards in the command line and learn how to use them to perform various tasks more efficiently.

• Scope:

  • Introduction to different types of wildcards (*, ?, [...])
  • How to use wildcards in common commands like ls, cp, rm, and more
  • Best practices and scenarios where wildcards are particularly useful
  • Pitfalls to avoid

---

Learning Tasks

1. Introduction to Wildcards:

   • Learn about the basic types of wildcards and their functionality (*, ?, [...]).

2. Using Wildcards in Commands:

   • Understand how to use wildcards with common commands like ls, cp, mv, and rm.

3. Best Practices:

   • Discover scenarios where using wildcards can save time and effort.

4. Pitfalls to Avoid:

   • Learn the risks of using wildcards carelessly and how to mitigate them.

5. Hands-on Practice:

   • Exercise 1: Use the * wildcard to list all .txt files in a directory.
   • Exercise 2: Utilize ? to match single characters in file names.
   • Exercise 3: Employ [...] to list files that match specific character ranges.
   • Exercise 4: Combine wildcards to perform complex file operations.

6. Troubleshooting:

   • Understand common issues one might encounter when using wildcards and how to resolve them.

---

Learning Goals

• Become proficient in using wildcards for various command-line tasks.
• Understand when and where to use different types of wildcards.
• Learn to use wildcards responsibly to avoid unwanted results.

---

Priority

• Medium

[jbeadling]

Below I take advantage wildcards to do the following:

• create 10 files named financial_reports1 through 10 and I do it with a single command
• I use the ls command and use the * wildcard to only show files that end in .txt
• I use the ls command again search for files named file and end with a single character
• I use the ls command again to search for financial_reports 3 through 5
• Using wildcards I create 3 directories and then make 3 files in each directory using the mkdir and touch commands in combination with wildcards, I then ls all 3 directories at once to show the files made.