What this snippet does
-a preserves ownership, permissions, timestamps and symlinks, which plain -r does not.
Why practise typing this
Typing files & directories code builds muscle memory for the symbols and indentation Linux uses most, which prose-based typing tests never cover. DevType measures your words per minute and accuracy on this snippet and tracks the individual characters you mistype, so later lessons can target them.
More Linux practice
- Listing files in detailFiles & Directories · beginner
- Showing hidden filesFiles & Directories · beginner
- Newest files firstFiles & Directories · intermediate
- Returning to the previous directoryFiles & Directories · beginner
- Creating nested directoriesFiles & Directories · beginner
- Copying a directoryFiles & Directories · beginner