HDFS command line interface in Hadoop - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is the purpose of the HDFS command line interface?

The HDFS command line interface allows users to interact with the Hadoop Distributed File System to manage files and directories, such as creating, deleting, and viewing files.

beginner

Which command lists files and directories in HDFS?

The command hdfs dfs -ls lists files and directories in the current or specified HDFS directory.

beginner

How do you copy a file from the local file system to HDFS?

Use the command hdfs dfs -put <local_path> <hdfs_path> to copy a file from your local machine to HDFS.

intermediate

What command removes a file or directory in HDFS?

The command hdfs dfs -rm <path> removes a file, and hdfs dfs -rm -r <path> removes a directory recursively in HDFS.

beginner

How can you display the contents of a file stored in HDFS?

Use hdfs dfs -cat <hdfs_file_path> to print the contents of a file stored in HDFS to the terminal.

Which command shows the files in the root directory of HDFS?

A hdfs dfs -cat /

B hdfs dfs -put /

C hdfs dfs -ls /

D hdfs dfs -rm /

The command hdfs dfs -ls / lists files and directories in the root directory of HDFS.

How do you copy a file named 'data.txt' from local to HDFS directory '/user/hadoop/'?

A hdfs dfs -get data.txt /user/hadoop/

B hdfs dfs -cat data.txt /user/hadoop/

C hdfs dfs -rm data.txt /user/hadoop/

D hdfs dfs -put data.txt /user/hadoop/

The -put command copies files from local to HDFS.

Which command removes a directory and all its contents in HDFS?

A hdfs dfs -rm /dir

B hdfs dfs -rm -r /dir

C hdfs dfs -ls /dir

D hdfs dfs -cat /dir

The -rm -r command removes directories recursively.

What does the command hdfs dfs -cat /file.txt do?

A Displays the file content

B Lists the file details

C Deletes the file

D Copies the file to local

The -cat command prints the file content to the terminal.

Which command copies a file from HDFS to the local file system?

A hdfs dfs -get

B hdfs dfs -put

C hdfs dfs -rm

D hdfs dfs -ls

The -get command copies files from HDFS to local.

Explain how to list, add, and remove files in HDFS using the command line interface.

Think about commands for viewing, uploading, and deleting files.

Describe the difference between the commands hdfs dfs -put and hdfs dfs -get.

Consider the direction of file transfer.