Lesson 2 of 6 · About 6 minutes
Files, folders, and paths
Learn the concept.
A path tells a tool where to look. Knowing where you are prevents the easy mistake of inspecting the wrong file with the right name.
Read a path from left to right
Example absolute path: /home/learner/cases/brief.txt.
- Root/
The starting point of this file-system tree.
- Directorieshome → learner → cases
Each component narrows the location.
- Filebrief.txt
The particular file inside cases.
Read the visualFrom /home/learner, what does cd cases change?
cd changes the shell’s working directory. It does not edit, rename, or transfer ownership of the files.
Start from your location
A working directory is the folder a command starts from. In the practice terminal, pwd displays it and ls lists its contents.
Read the route
An absolute Linux path starts at /, such as /home/learner/cases. A relative path starts from the current directory. The .. component means the parent directory.
Navigate without changing the evidence
cd changes your working directory. It does not move files. File names can be case-sensitive, so cases and Cases may refer to different things.
Put it in context
You are in /home/learner. The command cd cases takes you into /home/learner/cases. From there, cat brief.txt reads that folder’s brief. A file called brief.txt elsewhere would be a different file.
Make a decision.
Explore the practice space, then answer the check-in below. A correct answer lets you save this lesson to your progress.
YOUR PRACTICE SPACE
Try the idea for yourself.
Enable JavaScript to explore this fictional exercise. The explanation and visual above remain available.
Take this with you.
Check the working directory, then read the path from the right starting point.
Next lesson: Users, groups, and administrator access