Operation Manual

The Linux Command Line
156
Notes:
Navigating the file system using “cd”
The file system in Linux is hierarchical with nested directories (often called
“folders”) in a “tree”. The top of the directory structure is denoted by the symbol
“/”, and directories underneath “/” are referred to using “paths”, just like URLs in
a web browser.
To go to a particular place in the directory structure, you use the command “cd”,
which stands for “change directory”, followed by its location in the tree. For
instance, the following command will take you to Brian’s “Documents” folder in
his home directory.
cd /home/brian/Documents
If you want to move up the directory tree, use the command:
c d ..
For example, if you’re working in the folder “/home/brian/Documents/Project”, the
command “cd ..” would take you back to “/home/brian/Documents”. Make sure
you leave a space between the letters “cd” and the two dots, otherwise the
command won’t work.
To find out more about the “cd” command see its Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cd_%28command%29
cd
Changes the current working directory.
Tip...
The names of files
and directories
(folders) are
case-sensitive in
Linux, so the file
“my_stuff” is
different from the
file “My_stuff”.