File System

Speaking of file system...what's that? 
Here comes one of the biggest challenges for you as work at the command line, the file system or folder structure is much different than what you are used to in Windows.  In Windows you have several different layers or levels of folders all starting from the C:\ drive.  So in Windows you will have C:\Windows\Programs\ which shows two levels of folders.  In Linux you will not see drive letters like C: but instead see the folders, remember they are called directories in Linux, listed without drive letters and it all starts from the root of base of a tree called  “/” and pronounced root.

Lesson 14 / Quiz

The file system starts at / and flows outward from there so that all directories, folders, are attached to /.  Look at several different views to get a good idea of how this works.

/    
    
    /bin
    /boot
    /dev
    /etc
    /home
    /lib
    /media
    /mnt
    /opt
    /proc
    /root
    /sbin
    /srv
    /sys
    /tmp
    /usr
    /var

Note that in the example the first level is / just like the C:\ in Windows.  You see a multitude of second level directories.  There are many additional level directories and files located in those listed above just like Windows.

Each directory has files and/or additional directories under it as you can see in the example.


/    
    
    /bin
    /boot
        /grub
    /dev
    /etc
    /home
        /fred
        /mary
        /tom

When you login to the command line you will not have a graphical view but it is shown below just to help you understand the concepts.  Note that at the top is the / directory where it all starts.  Several definitions of the contents of directories is also noted.

Here is what it looks like from the command line.

mike@ub:/$ ls /
bin    dev     media  root   tmp      
bk     etc     mnt    sbin   usr      
boot   home    lib    opt    srv   var
cdrom  initrd  lost+found    proc   sys   

A good grasp of the file system structure is imperative to your ability to move around in the file system and to be able to execute commands.