Linux Directory Structure

This part of the tutorial introduces the directory structure on a Linux system and shows how to navigate in it. It explains how a path looks like in Linux, which standard directory structure is shared by most systems and how to navigate from one directory to another.

Video

(Slides as pdf)

Quiz

1. Which one is the top directory in Linux?

	/
	/home
	C:\

2. The command cd without arguments: if you start in /var/log/ and run cd with no arguments, what do you expect will happen?

	Nothing it stays in /var/log/
	It goes to your home directory
	It goes to the filesystem root
	The shell stops having a working directory
	It’s an error
	The shell prompt turns into a shark and eats you

3. Which of these oversimplifications describes the directory structure in a Linux system best?

	Everything is a directory
	Everything is a file
	Directories are files and files are directories
	All of the above

Warning:

no undo and make sure what you want to do (page 48)

Exercises in Terminal

4. Go to a specific subfolder of a folder (example: cd Documents/courses/) and get back to the home directory using cd command. List 3 different ways to do it using one command. Check after every action your path with pwd command.

Answer:

      cd
      cd ~
      cd $HOME
       the last option $HOME is an environment variable. You will learn about environment variables later.

5. Go to the directory /tmp and jump between /tmp and your home directory back and forth. Check after every action your path with pwd command.

Answer:

       cd /tmp
       cd -
       cd - with cd - you change back to the previous working directory, pass the dash - character as an argument to the cd command.

Bonus question: How do you copy and paste in the Linux terminal?

	Ctrl-C & Ctrl-V
	yy & pp
	Middle Mouse
	You can't, that's a Windows feature.

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