How to create multiple files (with different names) in a specific directory all at once in a Linux terminal

Question

My current directory structure

├── index.html
├── src
│   └── App.js
└── README.md

Now, I wanted to create files App.js, Body.js and Footer.js in a new directory named components. So, my final structure will be:

├── index.html
├── src
│   ├── App.js
│   └── components
│       ├── Header.js
│       ├── Body.js
│       └── Footer.js
└── README.md

I tried something like this:

mkdir -p src/components && touch $_/Header.js
touch src/components/Body.js  src/components/Footer.js

From reference, I know to create multiple files at once, we can use

touch newfilename{1..N}

But, my filenames are having different names.

Is there a way to create all these files in a new directory using a single command with terminal?

Answer 1

Yes, you can create multiple files with different names in a single command using terminal. Here's an example command that does exactly what you want:

mkdir -p src/components && touch src/components/{Header,Body,Footer}.js

This command first creates the components directory inside the src directory using mkdir -p src/components. Then, it uses the touch command to create the Header.js, Body.js, and Footer.js files inside the components directory. The {Header,Body,Footer} is brace expansion, which allows you to create multiple file names with a single pattern.