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Directory Structure
In most case, you wouldn't need to know which file/programs are located in where since most of the necessary files/program directories are set up in path and you would have access to them wherever you, but in some case you need to know exact locations for a certain file/programs to get access to it. However it wouldn't be easy to locate those especially when you don't have the big picture of Linux directory structure and basic properties of each directories. In this page, I will give you the list of the most common directories you would find in any Linux and some big pictures of each directories.
Followings are those directories that you may find from any variations of Linux.
This directory contains most of user binaries (executable files for most of Linux command). Following is the full list of files in this location from the linux on my PC (you may see a little different list from your Linux). You would notice several famous linux command as marked in blue.
bash fgconsole nc sed bunzip2 fgrep nc.openbsd setfacl busybox findmnt netcat setfont bzcat fuser netstat setupcon bzcmp fusermount nisdomainname sh bzdiff getfacl ntfs-3g sh.distrib bzegrep grep ntfs-3g.probe sleep bzexe gunzip ntfs-3g.secaudit ss bzfgrep gzexe ntfs-3g.usermap static-sh bzgrep gzip ntfscat stty bzip2 hostname ntfsck su bzip2recover init-checkconf ntfscluster sync bzless initctl2dot ntfscmp tailf bzmore ip ntfsdecrypt tar cat kbd_mode ntfsdump_logfile tempfile chacl kill ntfsfix touch chgrp less ntfsinfo true chmod lessecho ntfsls ulockmgr_server chown lessfile ntfsmftalloc umount chvt lesskey ntfsmove uname cp lesspipe ntfstruncate uncompress cpio ln ntfswipe unicode_start dash loadkeys open vdir date login openvt vmmouse_detect dbus-cleanup-sockets lowntfs-3g pidof which dbus-daemon ls ping whiptail dbus-uuidgen lsblk ping6 ypdomainname dd lsmod plymouth zcat df mkdir plymouth-upstart-bridge zcmp dir mknod ps zdiff dmesg mktemp pwd zegrep dnsdomainname more rbash zfgrep domainname mount readlink zforce dumpkeys mountpoint rm zgrep echo mt rmdir zless ed mt-gnu rnano zmore egrep mv running-in-container znew false nano run-parts
This directory contains device (device drivers) for the terminal devices (hardware) installed on the PC. Some of the common devices are marked in blue.
alarm loop0 ram15 tty1 tty37 tty7 ttyS4 ashmem loop1 ram2 tty10 tty38 tty8 ttyS5 autofs loop2 ram3 tty11 tty39 tty9 ttyS6 binder loop3 ram4 tty12 tty4 ttyprintk ttyS7 block loop4 ram5 tty13 tty40 ttyS0 ttyS8 bsg loop5 ram6 tty14 tty41 ttyS1 ttyS9 btrfs-control loop6 ram7 tty15 tty42 ttyS10 uinput bus loop7 ram8 tty16 tty43 ttyS11 urandom cdrom loop-control ram9 tty17 tty44 ttyS12 usb cdrw mapper random tty18 tty45 ttyS13 v4l char mcelog rfkill tty19 tty46 ttyS14 vcs console mei rtc tty2 tty47 ttyS15 vcs1 core mem rtc0 tty20 tty48 ttyS16 vcs2 cpu net sda tty21 tty49 ttyS17 vcs3 cpu_dma_latency network_latency sda1 tty22 tty5 ttyS18 vcs4 disk network_throughput sda2 tty23 tty50 ttyS19 vcs5 dri null sda3 tty24 tty51 ttyS2 vcs6 dvd oldmem sda5 tty25 tty52 ttyS20 vcs63 dvdrw port sda6 tty26 tty53 ttyS21 vcsa ecryptfs ppp sg0 tty27 tty54 ttyS22 vcsa1 fb0 psaux sg1 tty28 tty55 ttyS23 vcsa2 fd ptmx shm tty29 tty56 ttyS24 vcsa3 full pts snapshot tty3 tty57 ttyS25 vcsa4 fuse ram0 snd tty30 tty58 ttyS26 vcsa5 hidraw0 ram1 sr0 tty31 tty59 ttyS27 vcsa6 hpet ram10 stderr tty32 tty6 ttyS28 vcsa63 input ram11 stdin tty33 tty60 ttyS29 vga_arbiter kmsg ram12 stdout tty34 tty61 ttyS3 vhost-net kvm ram13 tty tty35 tty62 ttyS30 video0 log ram14 tty0 tty36 tty63 ttyS31 zero
The property of this directory is similar to /bin which contains a lot of binary (executable) files. Most of these files work as linux command. However, most of executables stored in this folder is for system adiministrator whereas the /bin directory is for common users. Some of the executables (commands) you would use pretty often are marked in blue.
acpi_available fstrim mkfs resize2fs agetty getcap mkfs.bfs resolvconf alsa getpcaps mkfs.cramfs restart alsactl getty mkfs.ext2 rmmod apm_available halt mkfs.ext3 route apparmor_parser hdparm mkfs.ext4 rtacct badblocks hwclock mkfs.ext4dev rtmon blkid ifconfig mkfs.minix runlevel blockdev ifdown mkfs.msdos setcap bootlogd ifquery mkfs.ntfs setvtrgb brltty ifup mkfs.vfat sfdisk brltty-setup init mkhomedir_helper shadowconfig capsh initctl mkntfs shutdown cfdisk insmod mkswap slattach crda installkernel mntctl start cryptsetup ip modinfo startpar ctrlaltdel ip6tables modprobe start-stop-daemon debugfs ip6tables-restore mountall status depmod ip6tables-save mount.fuse stop dhclient ipmaddr mount.lowntfs-3g sulogin dhclient3 iptables mount.ntfs swaplabel dhclient-script iptables-restore mount.ntfs-3g swapoff dmsetup iptables-save nameif swapon dosfsck iptunnel nfnl_osf switch_root dosfslabel isosize ntfsclone sysctl dumpe2fs iw ntfscp tc e2fsck iwconfig ntfslabel telinit e2image iwevent ntfsresize tune2fs e2label iwgetid ntfsundelete udevadm e2undo iwlist on_ac_power udevd fdisk iwpriv pam_tally umount.udisks findfs iwspy pam_tally2 unix_chkpwd fsck kbdrate parted unix_update fsck.cramfs killall5 partprobe upstart-socket-bridge fsck.ext2 ldconfig pccardctl upstart-udev-bridge fsck.ext3 ldconfig.real pivot_root ureadahead fsck.ext4 logsave plipconfig vstp fsck.ext4dev losetup plymouthd wipefs fsck.minix lsmod poweroff wpa_action fsck.msdos lspcmcia rarp wpa_cli fsck.nfs MAKEDEV raw wpa_supplicant fsck.vfat mii-tool reboot xtables-multi fsfreeze mkdosfs regdbdump fstab-decode mke2fs reload
This directory contains the information on the processes which are currently running on the system. These are a kind of psuedo file which is not stored as a hard copy and they would keep chaning depending on what kind of application/commands are running.
1 1411 1644 1924 24579 27 7 crypto modules 1006 1414 1653 1931 24580 270 74 devices mounts 1034 1422 1692 1936 24581 28 75 diskstats mtrr 1040 1488 1732 1965 24582 3 76 dma net 1052 1498 1737 2 24583 30 801 dri pagetypeinfo 1055 1562 1739 20 24585 31 836 driver partitions 1058 1564 1749 2006 24586 32 863 execdomains sched_debug 1081 1569 1751 2067 24587 35 865 fb schedstat 1083 1575 1753 21 24588 3513 887 filesystems scsi 1085 1579 1761 22 24596 3524 889 fs self 1090 1582 1772 224 24597 3525 891 interrupts slabinfo 1104 1584 1774 226 24625 355 909 iomem softirqs 1105 1587 1791 228 24626 357 910 ioports stat 1107 1589 1804 229 24629 36 911 irq swaps 1248 1590 1814 23 24630 3652 942 kallsyms sys 1251 1591 1832 230 24631 3656 949 kcore sysrq-trigger 1266 1593 1834 231 24925 37 982 key-users sysvipc 1287 1605 1837 23813 24930 38 983 kmsg timer_list 1362 1609 1838 24046 24935 39 acpi kpagecount timer_stats 13765 1613 1865 24093 24938 40 asound kpageflags tty 13900 1614 1871 24107 25 41 buddyinfo latency_stats uptime 13911 1621 1874 24127 25117 418 bus loadavg version 13912 1623 1875 24128 25140 463 cgroups locks version_signature 1398 1634 1895 24575 25193 50 cmdline mdstat vmallocinfo 1401 1639 1908 24577 26 55 consoles meminfo vmstat 1402 1643 1922 24578 269 6 cpuinfo misc zoneinfo
This directory contains most of temp files for various programs and the size of the files tend to changes (grows in most cases) as you use the system more, e.g, system log files (/var/log), packages and database files (/var/lib), emails(/var/mail), print queues (/var/spool) etc.
backups cache crash games lib local lock log mail opt run spool tmp
This directory contains the configuration files required by all the programs installed on the system. Some of files you would refer to (or modify) most often are marked in blue.
acpi gshadow- pm adduser.conf gtk-2.0 pnm2ppa.conf adjtime gtk-3.0 polkit-1 alternatives hdparm.conf popularity-contest.conf anacrontab host.conf ppp apg.conf hostname printcap apm hosts profile apparmor hosts.allow profile.d apparmor.d hosts.deny protocols apport hp pulse apt ifplugd python at.deny init python2.7 at-spi2 init.d rc0.d avahi initramfs-tools rc1.d bash.bashrc inputrc rc2.d bash_completion insserv rc3.d bash_completion.d insserv.conf rc4.d bindresvport.blacklist insserv.conf.d rc5.d blkid.conf iproute2 rc6.d blkid.tab issue rc.local bluetooth issue.net rcS.d bonobo-activation kbd resolvconf brlapi.key kernel resolv.conf brltty kernel-img.conf rmt brltty.conf kerneloops.conf rpc ca-certificates ldap rsyslog.conf ca-certificates.conf ld.so.cache rsyslog.d calendar ld.so.conf samba chatscripts ld.so.conf.d sane.d checkbox.d legal securetty colord.conf libnl-3 security compizconfig libpaper.d sensors3.conf ConsoleKit libreoffice sensors.d console-setup lightdm services cron.d locale.alias sgml cron.daily localtime shadow cron.hourly logcheck shadow- cron.monthly login.defs shells crontab logrotate.conf skel cron.weekly logrotate.d smi.conf cups lsb-base snmp cupshelpers lsb-base-logging.sh sound dbus-1 lsb-release speech-dispatcher debconf.conf ltrace.conf ssh debian_version magic ssl default magic.mime sudoers deluser.conf mailcap sudoers.d depmod.d mailcap.order sysctl.conf dhcp manpath.config sysctl.d dhcp3 mime.types systemd dictionaries-common mke2fs.conf terminfo doc-base modprobe.d thunderbird dpkg modules timezone emacs motd ucf.conf environment mtab udev firefox mtab.fuselock ufw fonts mtools.conf updatedb.conf foomatic nanorc update-manager fstab netscsid.conf update-motd.d fstab.d network update-notifier fuse.conf NetworkManager UPower gai.conf networks usb_modeswitch.conf gconf newt usb_modeswitch.d gdb nsswitch.conf vim ghostscript obex-data-server vtrgb ginn opt wgetrc gnome os-release wireshark gnome-app-install pam.conf wodim.conf gnome-settings-daemon pam.d wpa_supplicant gnome-vfs-2.0 papersize X11 groff passwd xdg group passwd- xml group- pcmcia xul-ext grub.d perl zsh_command_not_found gshadow pkcs11
This directory contains the binary (executable) for most of user applications and document, libaries. If you try to find any application/programs, first try witn /bin directory and if you don't find it here, try looking into /usr/bin.
bin games include lib local sbin share src
This directory contains files related to boot loader e.g, Kernel initrd, vmlinux etc.
This folder contains those files (libraries) that supports the binaries under /bin and /sbin.
apparmor libnss_mdns4.so.2 brltty libnss_mdns6_minimal.so.2 cpp libnss_mdns6.so.2 crda libnss_mdns_minimal.so.2 firmware libnss_mdns.so.2 hdparm libply-boot-client.so.2 init libply-boot-client.so.2.0.0 klibc-bhN-zLH5wUTKSCGch2ba2xqTtLE.so libply.so.2 libbrlapi.so.0.5 libply.so.2.0.0 libbrlapi.so.0.5.6 libply-splash-core.so.2 libcryptsetup.so.4 libply-splash-core.so.2.0.0 libcryptsetup.so.4.0.0 libply-splash-graphics.so.2 libdevmapper-event.so.1.02.1 libply-splash-graphics.so.2.0.0 libdevmapper.so.1.02.1 libproc-3.2.8.so libfuse.so.2 libsysfs.so.2 libfuse.so.2.8.6 libsysfs.so.2.0.1 libip4tc.so.0 libulockmgr.so.1 libip4tc.so.0.0.0 libulockmgr.so.1.0.1 libip6tc.so.0 libx86.so.1 libip6tc.so.0.0.0 libxtables.so.7 libipq_pic.so.0 libxtables.so.7.0.0 libipq_pic.so.0.0.0 linux-sound-base libipq.so.0 lsb libipq.so.0.0.0 modules libiptc.so.0 plymouth libiptc.so.0.0.0 recovery-mode libiw.so.30 resolvconf liblvm2app.so.2.2 security libnewt.so.0.52 systemd libnewt.so.0.52.11 terminfo libnl-3.so.200 udev libnl-3.so.200.3.0 ufw libnl-genl-3.so.200 x86_64-linux-gnu libnl-genl-3.so.200.3.0 xtables libnss_mdns4_minimal.so.2
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