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Hectal
Phase 1Beginner2 of 9 in Linux

Files, Permissions & Users

Create, edit, and move files safely — then understand exactly who's allowed to touch what, and why.

Phase 0 taught you to navigate a filesystem. This phase teaches you to actually WORK in one: creating and editing files, and understanding the permission system that decides who can read, write, or run any given file — the single most common source of 'why won't this just work' frustration for anyone new to Linux.

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7 topics ~75 min 9 code blocks & diagrams
Start with the first topic
1
1.1

Creating, Viewing, and Editing Files

A handful of commands cover the vast majority of real file work: creating an empty file, viewing a file's contents safely, and making a small edit without opening a full text editor.

13 min 1 code practice

2
1.2

Copying, Moving, Deleting Safely

cp, mv, and rm look simple, but rm in particular has no undo, no trash can, and no confirmation by default — the habits in this topic exist specifically to prevent the classic 'I just deleted the wrong thing' disaster.

13 min 1 code practice

3
1.3

Users, Groups, and Ownership

Every file on Linux has exactly one owning USER and one owning GROUP — understanding those two facts is the foundation the entire permissions system (next topic) is built on top of.

13 min 1 code practice

4
1.4

Permissions Deep Dive

Every file has three permission sets — owner, group, and everyone else — each independently controlling read, write, and execute, and chmod is how you change any of them.

14 min 1 diagram 1 code practice

5
1.5

sudo, sudoers & the Account Files

Where Linux keeps users, groups, and password hashes (/etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group), how su differs from sudo, and how to grant exactly the admin rights someone needs through sudoers, safely.

8 min 2 code practice

6
1.6

Editing Files on a Server: nano and vim Survival

Servers rarely have a graphical editor. nano is the friendly option; vim is everywhere, including minimal images and recovery shells. Learn enough vim to open, edit, save, and, most importantly, quit.

7 min 1 code practice

7
1.7

Archives & Compression: tar, gzip, zip

Backups, releases, and log bundles are shipped as archives. tar bundles files into one; gzip, xz, and zstd shrink them. Know the handful of flags that cover almost every real case.

7 min 1 code practice