Module 27 min

Moving Around the Filesystem

pwd, ls, cd, and paths

The first thing to master is knowing where you are and moving where you want. Everything else builds on this.

The three core commands

bash

pwd            # print working directory - where am I?
ls             # list files in the current directory
ls -l          # long listing: permissions, size, date
ls -la         # also show hidden files (names starting with .)
cd reports     # change into the reports directory
cd ..          # go up one level
cd ~           # go to your home directory
cd -           # go back to the previous directory

Absolute versus relative paths

An absolute path starts from the root and always means the same place: /home/you/project/spm. A relative path is from where you are now: reports/timing.rpt means the reports folder inside the current directory. Knowing which you are using saves endless "file not found" confusion.

Symbol	Means
/	The root of the whole filesystem
~	Your home directory
.	The current directory
..	The parent (one level up)

Pro tip

press Tab to auto-complete file and directory names as you type. It is faster and prevents typos. Press the Up arrow to recall previous commands. These two habits alone make you noticeably quicker in the shell.

Watch out

Linux is case sensitive and spaces matter. Reports and reports are different directories, and a file named my file (with a space) must be written as "my file" or my\ file. Most tools and scripts avoid spaces in names for exactly this reason.