Home Directory
The home directory of a regular user is found at /home/{username}/, while the
root user’s home directory is located at /root/. In most operating systems,
when the root user creates a new user, a home directory is automatically
generated for them. This home directory typically comes equipped with default
directories:
| Directory | Purpose |
|---|---|
Desktop/ | Files in this directory will be shown on the desktop environment |
Documents/ | Storing files created/used by word processors |
Downloads/ | Downloaded files (default download location of most web-browsers) |
Music/ | Audio files (.mp3, .flac, .aiff, .wav) |
Pictures/ | Images (.png, .jpg, .webp, .svg) |
Public/ | Files for remote access / hosting |
Templates/ | Templates like templates for word processors |
Videos/ | Video files (.mp4) |
I always create the following additional directories on a fresh installation. These directories are in lowercase letters to distinguish them from the default directories:
| Directory | Purpose |
|---|---|
dev/ | Personal software development files |
sandbox/ | A sandbox environment for testing purposes |
work/ | All professional work. I keep all work related projects inside this directory with a work git identity |
Shell handling
On Unix based systems the $HOME variable will evaluate to the home directory
of the active user. In the shell the tilde ~ character is an alias for /home/ <active-user>. A user can navigate to the home folder no matter the current
directory with:
cd ~Executing the cd command without any arguments will also navigate to the
active user’s home directory:
cd