Commands for Navigating the Linux Filesystems
The first thing you usually want to do when learning about the Linux filesystem is take some time to look around and see what’s there! These next few commands will: a) Tell you where you are, b) take you somewhere else, and c) show you what’s there. The following table describes the basic operation of the pwd, cd, and ls commands, and compares them to certain DOS commands that you might already be familiar with.
| Linux Command | DOS Command | Description |
| pwd | cd | “Print Working Directory”. Shows the current location in the directory tree. |
| cd | cd, chdir | “Change Directory”. When typed all by itself, it returns you to your home directory. |
| cd directory | cd directory | Change into the specified directory name. Example:cd /usr/src/linux |
| cd ~ | “~” is an alias for your home directory. It can be used as a shortcut to your “home”, or other directories relative to your home. | |
| cd .. | cd.. | Move up one directory. For example, if you are in /home/vic and you type “cd ..”, you will end up in /home |
| cd – | Return to previous directory. An easy way to get back to your previous location! | |
| ls | dir /w | List all files in the current directory, in column format. |
| ls directory | dir directory | List the files in the specified directory. Example:ls /var/log |
| ls -l | dir | List files in “long” format, one file per line. This also shows you additional info about the file, such as ownership, permissions, date, and size. |
| ls -a | dir /a | List all files, including “hidden” files. Hidden files are those files that begin with a “.”, e.g. The .bash_history file in your home directory. |
| ls -ld directory | A “long” list of “directory”, but instead of showing the directory contents, show the directory’s detailed information. For example, compare the output of the following two commands:
ls -l /usr/bin ls -ld /usr/bin |
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| ls /usr/bin/d* | dir d*.* | List all files whose names begin with the letter “d” in the /usr/bin directory. |