In our last discussion, we came to know how files and directories are present in the Unix/Linux file system and we also knew how to check which directory we are currently in. Stepping forward, we will see how we can navigate in any directory of the file system and how to check what all files are present in the current directory and what they are.
From the previous post we learned that the Unix/Linux file system starts from the root directory, here we will see how we can navigate the root directory and what files or directories are present inside it. One thing to remember, since Unix/Linux is available in different flavors and the system administrator changes many configurations in each system, it may happen that two different systems can have different file system layout, consequently files and directories present in the root directory (or for that matter, within any directory) can be different. Maybe in my case, a particular file/directory is present but same is not present in your case, or vice-versa.
Let's see how we can navigate the root directory and find out the various files and directories present in it-
We can use the cd (change directory) command to navigate from one directory to another directory. We know that in Unix/Linux system root directory is represented by /, so when we run cd / command, we will be able to navigate to the root directory. One more thing to note here, whenever we navigated to the root directory, our command prompt changed, earlier it was totan@Home-Computer ~ $ now it has changed to totan@Home-Computer / $. When we will move to another directories, we will understand this behaviour clearly.
Let's see how we can find out what all files or directories are present in the root directory. I have multiple Linux or Unix based systems and tried to check for each system what are the files/directories present in each of them-
Linux Mint
Oracle Linux
FreeBSD
We now know what all files/directories are present in the root directory of different systems, by running the ls -l command, but how do we understand which one is directory and which one is file. Check all outputs once again and note that In some cases, some lines start with the letter d, sometimes with l and sometimes with - and the last column of the output is the name of a file/directory.Soon we'll check these outputs and will know what does it signify while learning ls command in detail. But for now, just knowing that the lines which start with the letter d is a directory and if it starts with - then it is file.
Now we know what is in root directory and we will try to find out what child directories have within them. Again I want to remind you that the file system may not be the same for everyone, so the next commands that I am running on my file system, you can change according to your file system -
This is how we can navigate to different directories. Now seeing all the outputs, we can understand that when we are navigating from one directory to another, system shows the name of the current directory (pwd) in the prompt, which helps us to remember which directory we are working in.
This way we can navigate to different directories of the file system but there is a problem, we have to run the cd / command again and again to go back to the root directory and from there we have to navigate to its child directories. While there is no harm in it but it is cumbersome at times. So we'll learn few shortcuts now, which are very useful when navigating Unix or Linux file system.
After navigating many directories we often get lost and there is a shortcut to return to our home, cd ~ helps us to return to our home directory directly -
Similarly, if you have to go back to the directory you were just right before (in my case /boot ), cd - will help you -
If you have to navigate to the parent directory of the current directory, you will use cd ..
We can navigate the file system easily with these shortcuts. Now it's your turn to use the commands and the shortcuts to navigate around the file system and get an idea of how the file system looks like.
In our next post, we will learn more shortcuts and file related commands.
From the previous post we learned that the Unix/Linux file system starts from the root directory, here we will see how we can navigate the root directory and what files or directories are present inside it. One thing to remember, since Unix/Linux is available in different flavors and the system administrator changes many configurations in each system, it may happen that two different systems can have different file system layout, consequently files and directories present in the root directory (or for that matter, within any directory) can be different. Maybe in my case, a particular file/directory is present but same is not present in your case, or vice-versa.
Let's see how we can navigate the root directory and find out the various files and directories present in it-
totan@Home-Computer ~ $ cd /
totan@Home-Computer / $
We can use the cd (change directory) command to navigate from one directory to another directory. We know that in Unix/Linux system root directory is represented by /, so when we run cd / command, we will be able to navigate to the root directory. One more thing to note here, whenever we navigated to the root directory, our command prompt changed, earlier it was totan@Home-Computer ~ $ now it has changed to totan@Home-Computer / $. When we will move to another directories, we will understand this behaviour clearly.
Let's see how we can find out what all files or directories are present in the root directory. I have multiple Linux or Unix based systems and tried to check for each system what are the files/directories present in each of them-
Linux Mint
totan@Home-Computer / $ ls -l
total 136
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Jul 30 21:08 bin
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Sep 1 08:48 boot
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 10 2017 cdrom
drwxr-xr-x 22 root root 4340 Sep 1 08:40 dev
drwxr-xr-x 162 root root 12288 Sep 1 08:48 etc
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 May 15 00:04 home
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 Sep 1 08:47 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-93-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 Aug 20 12:11 initrd.img.old -> boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-92-generic
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4096 Jun 20 20:20 lib
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Jun 20 20:20 lib32
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 20 20:20 lib64
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Jan 10 2017 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 May 31 22:58 media
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jan 11 2017 mnt
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Jun 2 20:42 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 222 root root 0 Sep 1 08:39 proc
drwx------ 19 root root 4096 Jul 29 00:01 root
drwxr-xr-x 33 root root 1120 Sep 1 08:47 run
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Jul 30 21:08 sbin
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 14 2016 srv
dr-xr-xr-x 13 root root 0 Sep 1 08:39 sys
drwxrwxrwt 14 root root 20480 Sep 1 08:51 tmp
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan 12 2017 u01
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Jun 16 20:47 usr
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Dec 14 2016 var
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 Sep 1 08:47 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-93-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 Aug 20 12:11 vmlinuz.old -> boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-92-generic
totan@Home-Computer / $
Oracle Linux
[root@docker /]#ls -l
total 14296
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 7 Jul 14 2016 bin -> usr/bin
dr-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Jul 14 2016 boot
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 3180 Sep 1 09:08 dev
drwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 4508 Sep 1 09:09 etc
-rw-r--r-- 1 root palash 14614796 Aug 21 13:25 file_tree
drwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 12 Aug 11 09:40 home
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 7 Jul 14 2016 lib -> usr/lib
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 9 Jul 14 2016 lib64 -> usr/lib64
drwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 16 Aug 24 10:02 media
drwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 0 Sep 11 2015 mnt
drwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 52 Jul 14 2016 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 133 root root 0 Sep 1 09:08 proc
dr-xr-x---. 1 root palash 260 Aug 24 10:00 root
drwxr-xr-x 32 root root 1080 Sep 1 09:09 run
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 8 Jul 14 2016 sbin -> usr/sbin
drwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 0 Sep 11 2015 srv
dr-xr-xr-x 13 root root 0 Sep 1 09:08 sys
drwxrwxrwt. 1 root root 586 Sep 1 09:16 tmp
drwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 106 Jul 14 2016 usr
drwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 200 Sep 1 09:08 var
FreeBSD
We now know what all files/directories are present in the root directory of different systems, by running the ls -l command, but how do we understand which one is directory and which one is file. Check all outputs once again and note that In some cases, some lines start with the letter d, sometimes with l and sometimes with - and the last column of the output is the name of a file/directory.Soon we'll check these outputs and will know what does it signify while learning ls command in detail. But for now, just knowing that the lines which start with the letter d is a directory and if it starts with - then it is file.
Now we know what is in root directory and we will try to find out what child directories have within them. Again I want to remind you that the file system may not be the same for everyone, so the next commands that I am running on my file system, you can change according to your file system -
totan@Home-Computer / $ cd /
totan@Home-Computer / $ pwd
/
totan@Home-Computer / $ ls -l
total 136
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Jul 30 21:08 bin
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Sep 1 08:48 boot
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 10 2017 cdrom
drwxr-xr-x 22 root root 4340 Sep 1 08:40 dev
drwxr-xr-x 162 root root 12288 Sep 1 08:48 etc
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 May 15 00:04 home
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 Sep 1 08:47 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-93-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 Aug 20 12:11 initrd.img.old -> boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-92-generic
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4096 Jun 20 20:20 lib
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Jun 20 20:20 lib32
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 20 20:20 lib64
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Jan 10 2017 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 May 31 22:58 media
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jan 11 2017 mnt
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Jun 2 20:42 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 230 root root 0 Sep 1 08:39 proc
drwx------ 19 root root 4096 Jul 29 00:01 root
drwxr-xr-x 33 root root 1120 Sep 1 08:47 run
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Jul 30 21:08 sbin
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 14 2016 srv
dr-xr-xr-x 13 root root 0 Sep 1 09:07 sys
drwxrwxrwt 15 root root 20480 Sep 1 09:39 tmp
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan 12 2017 u01
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Jun 16 20:47 usr
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Dec 14 2016 var
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 Sep 1 08:47 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-93-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 Aug 20 12:11 vmlinuz.old -> boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-92-generic
totan@Home-Computer / $ cd bin
totan@Home-Computer /bin $ pwd
/bin
totan@Home-Computer /bin $ ls -l
total 17456
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6456 Jul 4 20:24 archdetect
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1037440 May 26 17:52 bash
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 520992 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 249464 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs-calc-size
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 5 Jun 16 05:16 btrfsck -> btrfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 278376 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs-convert
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 249464 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs-debug-tree
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 245368 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs-find-root
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 270136 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs-image
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 249464 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs-map-logical
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 245368 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs-select-super
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 253816 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs-show-super
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 249464 Jun 16 05:16 btrfstune
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 245368 Jun 16 05:16 btrfs-zero-log
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31288 May 20 2015 bunzip2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1964536 Aug 19 2015 busybox
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31288 May 20 2015 bzcat
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jan 10 2017 bzcmp -> bzdiff
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2140 May 20 2015 bzdiff
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jan 10 2017 bzegrep -> bzgrep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4877 May 20 2015 bzexe
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jan 10 2017 bzfgrep -> bzgrep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3642 May 20 2015 bzgrep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31288 May 20 2015 bzip2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14616 May 20 2015 bzip2recover
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jan 10 2017 bzless -> bzmore
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1297 May 20 2015 bzmore
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 52080 Mar 2 23:37 cat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14752 Feb 7 2016 chacl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 60272 Mar 2 23:37 chgrp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 56112 Mar 2 23:37 chmod
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 64368 Mar 2 23:37 chown
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10536 Sep 22 2016 chvt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 151024 Mar 2 23:37 cp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 141472 Feb 18 2016 cpio
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Jun 9 23:56 csh -> /etc/alternatives/csh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 154072 Feb 18 2016 dash
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 68464 Mar 2 23:37 date
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 72632 Mar 2 23:37 dd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 97912 Mar 2 23:37 df
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 126584 Mar 2 23:37 dir
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 60680 Jun 15 03:21 dmesg
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Jan 10 2017 dnsdomainname -> hostname
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Jan 10 2017 domainname -> hostname
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 82328 Sep 22 2016 dumpkeys
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31376 Mar 2 23:37 echo
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 51512 Apr 26 2014 ed
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 36504 Jul 14 2015 efibootmgr
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 28 Apr 29 2016 egrep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27280 Mar 2 23:37 false
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10544 Sep 22 2016 fgconsole
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 28 Apr 29 2016 fgrep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 49576 Jun 15 03:21 findmnt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1185 Jun 16 05:16 fsck.btrfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 36024 Feb 7 2016 fuser
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 30800 Jul 12 2016 fusermount
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 23752 Feb 7 2016 getfacl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 211224 Apr 29 2016 grep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2301 Oct 27 2014 gunzip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5927 Oct 27 2014 gzexe
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 98240 Oct 27 2014 gzip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 192760 Mar 1 2016 hciconfig
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14800 Nov 24 2015 hostname
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 376192 May 5 21:54 ip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 498936 Jul 19 05:26 journalctl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10536 Sep 22 2016 kbd_mode
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 30792 Dec 10 2015 keyctl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 23152 Nov 21 2016 kill
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 150600 Jul 25 20:05 kmod
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Jun 9 23:58 ksh -> /etc/alternatives/ksh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 170728 Apr 5 18:39 less
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10256 Apr 5 18:39 lessecho
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Apr 5 18:39 lessfile -> lesspipe
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 19824 Apr 5 18:39 lesskey
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7764 Apr 5 18:39 lesspipe
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 156984 Apr 14 2016 lksh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 56152 Mar 2 23:37 ln
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 111496 Sep 22 2016 loadkeys
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 48128 May 17 05:07 login
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 453848 Jul 19 05:26 loginctl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 105136 Jan 28 2017 lowntfs-3g
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 126584 Mar 2 23:37 ls
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 77280 Jun 15 03:21 lsblk
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Jul 25 20:05 lsmod -> kmod
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 76848 Mar 2 23:37 mkdir
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 265928 Jun 16 05:16 mkfs.btrfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 64496 Mar 2 23:37 mknod
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 269088 Apr 14 2016 mksh
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Apr 14 2016 mksh-static -> /usr/lib/klibc/bin/mksh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39728 Mar 2 23:37 mktemp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39768 Jun 15 03:21 more
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 40152 Jun 15 03:21 mount
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14768 Jun 15 03:21 mountpoint
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 Jan 10 2017 mt -> /etc/alternatives/mt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 68824 Feb 18 2016 mt-gnu
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 130488 Mar 2 23:37 mv
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 208480 Feb 15 2017 nano
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 Jan 10 2017 nc -> /etc/alternatives/nc
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31248 Dec 4 2012 nc.openbsd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 24 Jan 10 2017 netcat -> /etc/alternatives/netcat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 119624 Jun 30 2014 netstat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 678496 Jul 19 05:26 networkctl
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Jan 10 2017 nisdomainname -> hostname
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 142032 Jan 28 2017 ntfs-3g
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10312 Jan 28 2017 ntfs-3g.probe
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 67608 Jan 28 2017 ntfs-3g.secaudit
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18424 Jan 28 2017 ntfs-3g.usermap
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 26728 Jan 28 2017 ntfscat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 30824 Jan 28 2017 ntfscluster
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 34920 Jan 28 2017 ntfscmp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 34928 Jan 28 2017 ntfsfallocate
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39024 Jan 28 2017 ntfsfix
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 55416 Jan 28 2017 ntfsinfo
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31928 Jan 28 2017 ntfsls
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 30824 Jan 28 2017 ntfsmove
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 38944 Jan 28 2017 ntfstruncate
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 47752 Jan 28 2017 ntfswipe
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jan 10 2017 open -> openvt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18968 Sep 22 2016 openvt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Jan 10 2017 pidof -> /sbin/killall5
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 44168 May 8 2014 ping
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 44680 May 8 2014 ping6
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35504 Sep 4 2016 plymouth
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 97408 Nov 21 2016 ps
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31472 Mar 2 23:37 pwd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 May 26 17:52 rbash -> bash
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39632 Mar 2 23:37 readlink
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 89 Apr 26 2014 red
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 60272 Mar 2 23:37 rm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39632 Mar 2 23:37 rmdir
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Feb 15 2017 rnano -> nano
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 19320 Jan 26 2016 run-parts
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Jun 10 00:01 rzsh -> /etc/alternatives/rzsh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 73424 Feb 12 2016 sed
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 36296 Feb 7 2016 setfacl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39952 Sep 22 2016 setfont
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 30875 Feb 1 2017 setupcon
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Jan 10 2017 sh -> dash
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Jan 10 2017 sh.distrib -> dash
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31408 Mar 2 23:37 sleep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 115816 May 5 21:54 ss
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Jan 10 2017 static-sh -> busybox
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 72496 Mar 2 23:37 stty
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 40128 May 17 05:07 su
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31408 Mar 2 23:37 sync
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 659848 Jul 19 05:26 systemctl
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 Jul 19 05:26 systemd -> /lib/systemd/systemd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 51656 Jul 19 05:26 systemd-ask-password
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39344 Jul 19 05:26 systemd-escape
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 64080 Jul 19 05:27 systemd-hwdb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 281840 Jul 19 05:26 systemd-inhibit
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 47544 Jul 19 05:26 systemd-machine-id-setup
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35248 Jul 19 05:26 systemd-notify
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 133704 Jul 19 05:26 systemd-tmpfiles
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 68032 Jul 19 05:26 systemd-tty-ask-password-agent
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 23144 Jun 15 03:21 tailf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 383632 Nov 17 2016 tar
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Jun 9 23:56 tcsh -> /usr/bin/tcsh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10416 Jan 26 2016 tempfile
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 64432 Mar 2 23:37 touch
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27280 Mar 2 23:37 true
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 449136 Jul 19 05:27 udevadm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14328 Jul 12 2016 ulockmgr_server
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 27608 Jun 15 03:21 umount
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31440 Mar 2 23:37 uname
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2301 Oct 27 2014 uncompress
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2762 Sep 22 2016 unicode_start
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 126584 Mar 2 23:37 vdir
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10552 Mar 3 2016 vmmouse_detect
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 31376 Jun 15 03:21 wdctl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 946 Jan 26 2016 which
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27432 Jan 19 2016 whiptail
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Jan 10 2017 ypdomainname -> hostname
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1937 Oct 27 2014 zcat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1777 Oct 27 2014 zcmp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5764 Oct 27 2014 zdiff
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 140 Oct 27 2014 zegrep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 140 Oct 27 2014 zfgrep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2131 Oct 27 2014 zforce
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5938 Oct 27 2014 zgrep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2037 Oct 27 2014 zless
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1910 Oct 27 2014 zmore
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5047 Oct 27 2014 znew
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Jun 10 00:01 zsh -> /etc/alternatives/zsh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 771552 Feb 7 2016 zsh5
totan@Home-Computer /bin $ cd /
totan@Home-Computer / $ pwd
/
totan@Home-Computer / $ ls -l
total 136
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Jul 30 21:08 bin
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Sep 1 08:48 boot
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 10 2017 cdrom
drwxr-xr-x 22 root root 4340 Sep 1 08:40 dev
drwxr-xr-x 162 root root 12288 Sep 1 08:48 etc
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 May 15 00:04 home
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 Sep 1 08:47 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-93-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 Aug 20 12:11 initrd.img.old -> boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-92-generic
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4096 Jun 20 20:20 lib
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Jun 20 20:20 lib32
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 20 20:20 lib64
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Jan 10 2017 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 May 31 22:58 media
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jan 11 2017 mnt
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Jun 2 20:42 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 231 root root 0 Sep 1 08:39 proc
drwx------ 19 root root 4096 Jul 29 00:01 root
drwxr-xr-x 33 root root 1120 Sep 1 08:47 run
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Jul 30 21:08 sbin
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 14 2016 srv
dr-xr-xr-x 13 root root 0 Sep 1 09:07 sys
drwxrwxrwt 15 root root 20480 Sep 1 09:39 tmp
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan 12 2017 u01
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Jun 16 20:47 usr
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Dec 14 2016 var
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 Sep 1 08:47 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-93-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 Aug 20 12:11 vmlinuz.old -> boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-92-generic
totan@Home-Computer / $ cd boot
totan@Home-Computer /boot $ pwd
/boot
totan@Home-Computer /boot $ ls -l
total 779672
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1243479 Dec 3 2016 abi-4.4.0-53-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1244118 Jan 7 2017 abi-4.4.0-59-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1244118 Jan 18 2017 abi-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1245512 Feb 2 2017 abi-4.4.0-63-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1245512 Feb 20 2017 abi-4.4.0-64-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1245512 Mar 3 23:55 abi-4.4.0-66-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1246312 Apr 27 23:54 abi-4.4.0-78-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1246311 May 18 03:39 abi-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1246311 Jun 14 17:54 abi-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1246511 Jun 27 01:15 abi-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1246670 Jul 18 20:30 abi-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1246835 Aug 1 03:55 abi-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1246835 Aug 8 19:28 abi-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1246835 Aug 10 16:32 abi-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1247269 Aug 12 05:10 abi-4.4.0-93-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 189877 Dec 3 2016 config-4.4.0-53-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190047 Jan 7 2017 config-4.4.0-59-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190047 Jan 18 2017 config-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190247 Feb 2 2017 config-4.4.0-63-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190247 Feb 20 2017 config-4.4.0-64-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190247 Mar 3 23:55 config-4.4.0-66-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190355 Apr 27 23:54 config-4.4.0-78-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190356 May 18 03:39 config-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190356 Jun 14 17:54 config-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190356 Jun 27 01:15 config-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190356 Jul 18 20:30 config-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190356 Aug 1 03:55 config-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190356 Aug 8 19:28 config-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190356 Aug 10 16:32 config-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 190356 Aug 12 05:10 config-4.4.0-93-generic
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Sep 1 08:48 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40764194 Jul 6 09:50 initrd.img-4.4.0-53-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40765047 Jul 6 09:50 initrd.img-4.4.0-59-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40770453 Jul 6 09:50 initrd.img-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40751691 Jul 6 09:49 initrd.img-4.4.0-63-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40756164 Jul 6 09:49 initrd.img-4.4.0-64-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40756852 Jul 6 09:49 initrd.img-4.4.0-66-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40763065 Jul 6 09:48 initrd.img-4.4.0-78-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40764187 Jul 6 09:48 initrd.img-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40763389 Jul 6 09:48 initrd.img-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40763060 Jul 23 10:44 initrd.img-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40782543 Jul 25 09:09 initrd.img-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40787197 Aug 4 21:12 initrd.img-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40783402 Aug 11 20:36 initrd.img-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40786061 Aug 20 12:11 initrd.img-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40793891 Sep 1 08:48 initrd.img-4.4.0-93-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 182704 Jan 28 2016 memtest86+.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 184380 Jan 28 2016 memtest86+.elf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 184840 Jan 28 2016 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw------- 1 root root 3874377 Dec 3 2016 System.map-4.4.0-53-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3875594 Jan 7 2017 System.map-4.4.0-59-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3875553 Jan 18 2017 System.map-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3883990 Feb 2 2017 System.map-4.4.0-63-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3883990 Feb 20 2017 System.map-4.4.0-64-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3883990 Mar 3 23:55 System.map-4.4.0-66-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3882872 Apr 27 23:54 System.map-4.4.0-78-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3883279 May 18 03:39 System.map-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3883391 Jun 14 17:54 System.map-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3883887 Jun 27 01:15 System.map-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3884173 Jul 18 20:30 System.map-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3884798 Aug 1 03:55 System.map-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3884798 Aug 8 19:28 System.map-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3884798 Aug 10 16:32 System.map-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 3885811 Aug 12 05:10 System.map-4.4.0-93-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7065648 Dec 14 2016 vmlinuz-4.4.0-53-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7069136 Jan 7 2017 vmlinuz-4.4.0-59-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7070992 Jan 18 2017 vmlinuz-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7087088 Feb 2 2017 vmlinuz-4.4.0-63-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7087152 Feb 20 2017 vmlinuz-4.4.0-64-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7087024 Mar 3 23:55 vmlinuz-4.4.0-66-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7089552 Apr 27 23:54 vmlinuz-4.4.0-78-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7091696 May 18 03:39 vmlinuz-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7092784 Jun 14 17:54 vmlinuz-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7092720 Jun 27 01:15 vmlinuz-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7095888 Jul 18 20:30 vmlinuz-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7098096 Aug 1 03:55 vmlinuz-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7097936 Aug 8 19:28 vmlinuz-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7098032 Aug 10 16:32 vmlinuz-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 7097296 Aug 12 05:10 vmlinuz-4.4.0-93-generic
totan@Home-Computer /boot $
This is how we can navigate to different directories. Now seeing all the outputs, we can understand that when we are navigating from one directory to another, system shows the name of the current directory (pwd) in the prompt, which helps us to remember which directory we are working in.
This way we can navigate to different directories of the file system but there is a problem, we have to run the cd / command again and again to go back to the root directory and from there we have to navigate to its child directories. While there is no harm in it but it is cumbersome at times. So we'll learn few shortcuts now, which are very useful when navigating Unix or Linux file system.
After navigating many directories we often get lost and there is a shortcut to return to our home, cd ~ helps us to return to our home directory directly -
totan@Home-Computer /boot $ pwd
/boot
totan@Home-Computer /boot $ cd ~
totan@Home-Computer ~ $ pwd
/home/totan
totan@Home-Computer ~ $
Similarly, if you have to go back to the directory you were just right before (in my case /boot ), cd - will help you -
totan@Home-Computer ~ $ pwd
/home/totan
totan@Home-Computer ~ $ cd -
/boot
totan@Home-Computer /boot $ pwd
/boot
If you have to navigate to the parent directory of the current directory, you will use cd ..
totan@Home-Computer /boot $ pwd
/boot
totan@Home-Computer /boot $ cd ..
totan@Home-Computer / $ pwd
/
totan@Home-Computer / $ cd bin
totan@Home-Computer /bin $ pwd
/bin
totan@Home-Computer /bin $ cd ..
totan@Home-Computer / $ cd mnt
totan@Home-Computer /mnt $ pwd
/mnt
totan@Home-Computer /mnt $ cd ..
totan@Home-Computer / $ cd ~
totan@Home-Computer ~ $ pwd
/home/totan
totan@Home-Computer ~ $ cd ..
totan@Home-Computer /home $ pwd
/home
totan@Home-Computer /home $ ls -l
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 55 palash palash 4096 Aug 25 21:57 palash
drwxr-xr-x 46 totan totan 4096 Sep 1 09:41 totan
totan@Home-Computer /home $ cd palash
totan@Home-Computer /home/palash $ pwd
/home/palash
totan@Home-Computer /home/palash $ cd ..
totan@Home-Computer /home $ pwd
/home
totan@Home-Computer /home $ cd totan
totan@Home-Computer ~ $ pwd
/home/totan
totan@Home-Computer ~ $
We can navigate the file system easily with these shortcuts. Now it's your turn to use the commands and the shortcuts to navigate around the file system and get an idea of how the file system looks like.
In our next post, we will learn more shortcuts and file related commands.
No comments:
Post a Comment