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Basic Directory Structure of Linux

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Beginners Level Course: Basic Directory Structure of Linux

Now type this:
ls

You will probably see something like this:


boot
cdrom
bin
dev
etc
floppy
home
lib
lost+found
mnt
opt
proc
root
sbin
tmp
usr
var



They will be blue in color. Those are directories.

The /bin directory




cd bin  
ls 

This is the famous bin/ directory. You know, I have always felt this one was misnamed. For example, when people say, 'That's no good, throw it in the bin'. Actually, bin/ is one of the most important directories in Linux. You'll find all of the most used commands there. Right now you should be seeing a lot of red (or green, depending on your version of Linux). Those are programs.

The /etc directory
Now let's look at another directory. There's a long way and a short cut. First the long way.
cd.. [enter]   
cd etc [enter]

Or you can just type:
cd /etc


Anyway, you are now in the etc/ directory. This houses most of the configuration files for Linux. lilo.conf, the file that tells you which OS to boot is in there.

you'll see: lilo.conf

And you don't even have to type the whole thing. You could just type 'ls li' and push the tab key. Linux will type the rest for you. Isn't that cool!