Overview
Using UNIX commands over an SSH connection to your DreamHost server, you can navigate between directories, create and delete directories, and view directory contents and sizes.
Navigating directories
This section explains how to change between directories and confirm your current location.
How do I view my current directory?
You can confirm the directory you are currently in using the pwd command. This shows the user is in the /home/username/example.com directory:
[server]$ pwd /home/username/example.com
How do I change to my home directory?
The user's home directory is where all files and directories are located for the specific user. To navigate to the directory, use the ~ symbol. For example:
[server]$ cd ~
How do I change directories?
To change to another directory, use the cd command. This example changes to the example.com/blog directory located within the user's home directory.
[server]$ cd ~/example.com/blog
Return to the previous directory
To change to your previous directory, use the cd - command:
[server]$ pwd /home/username/current/directory/
[server]$ cd ~/new/directory/ [server]$ pwd home/username/new/directory/
[server]$ cd - [server]$ pwd /home/username/current/directory/
The user above has changed from one directory to another and then used the cd - command to return to their previous directory.
You can move up a single directory quickly by using ../.
[server]$ cd ../
String together to move up multiple directories.
[server]$ cd ../../
Creating and deleting directories
This section explains how to create and delete directories that are empty or contain files.
How do I create directories?
To create a new directory, use the mkdir command. The following example creates a new directory named directory_name:
[server]$ mkdir directory_name
How do I delete directories?
There are a few ways to delete directories. To delete an empty directory, use the rmdir command:
[server]$ rmdir directory_name
To delete a non-empty directory (one that still contains files or other directories in it) rmdir will not work. You must instead use rm -r to remove the directory and all of its contents.
[server]$ rm -r directory_name
Be careful using this flag, as you will delete everything contained in the directory. There is no "Recycle Bin" or "Trash Can" in the shell. What you delete is gone forever, so use caution.
Viewing directory content
The following explains different ways to list contents and their size on the server.
How do I list the contents of my current directory?
To list the contents of a directory, use the ls command:
[server]$ ls Maildir example.com logs
Add the -l flag to list the contents with full details, including permissions, file size, and last modified date:
[server]$ ls -l drwx--S--- 12 username groupname 4096 Mar 15 17:28 Maildir drwxr-xr-x 5 username groupname 4096 Mar 7 12:35 example.com drwxr-sr-x 8 root root 4096 Apr 17 06:33 logs
To list all files within the directory (including hidden files) in vertical format, add the -la flags:
[server]$ ls -la -rw------- 1 username pg###### 10541 Mar 12 18:46 .bash_history -rwxr-xr-x 1 username pg###### 430 Dec 18 14:45 .bash_profile -rw-r--r-- 1 username pg###### 237 Mar 25 2024 .bashrc drwxr-xr-x 5 username pg###### 4096 Mar 25 2024 Maildir
How do I view directory sizes?
To determine the size of a directory, use the du command with the -sh flags:
[server]$ du -sh example.com 1532 example.com
Add the -sh flag to see the size in a more readable format (KB, MB, GB, and so on). You can also list multiple directories and files separated by spaces.