'hadoop fs' or 'hdfs dfs' and what's the difference?

Question

Why are they alternatively used and why are there two commands being used to accomplish the same thing?

Answer 1

There IS a difference between the two, refer to the following figure from Apache's official documentation:

As we can see here, the 'hdfs dfs' command is used very specifically for hadoop filesystem (hdfs) data operations while 'hadoop fs' covers a larger variety of data present on external platforms as well. These external platforms include the local filesystem data as well. 

To understand these entry-level fundamental concepts first, you should take up a hadoop tutorial. Once these doubts are clear, you can get a clearer understanding of big data analytics from a real-world scenario perspective. 

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