beginner 10 minutes

Understanding the Linux File System

Learn how the Linux file system is organized — where your files go, what each folder does, and why there's no C: drive.

Forget drive letters

On Windows, you have C:\, D:\, etc. Linux doesn't use drive letters. Instead, everything starts from a single root directory: /. All files, folders, devices, and even other drives live under this one tree. Your USB drive doesn't become E: — it gets "mounted" at a path like /media/your-name/usb-drive/.

Your home directory: /home

This is your space. Documents, Downloads, Music, Desktop — all your personal files live here. It's like C:\Users\YourName on Windows. Each user gets their own folder.

ls ~/
# Same as:
ls /home/your-username/

System directories you should know

Here are the most important top-level directories:

/ — Root, the top of everything
/home — Your personal files
/etc — System configuration files
/var — Variable data (logs, databases, caches)
/tmp — Temporary files (cleared on reboot)
/usr — User programs and libraries
/opt — Optional/third-party software
/bin and /sbin — Essential system commands
/dev — Hardware devices (disks, USB, etc.)
/mnt and /media — Mounted drives and USB sticks

Hidden files start with a dot

Linux uses a dot prefix instead of a hidden attribute. Files and folders starting with . are hidden by default. Most app configs live in your home directory as hidden folders like ~/.config/.

# Show hidden files:
ls -a ~/

# Common hidden config folders:
ls ~/.config/
ls ~/.local/share/

Paths use forward slashes

Windows uses backslashes (C:\Users\Documents), Linux uses forward slashes (/home/user/Documents). Paths are also case-sensitive — Documents and documents are two different folders.

See disk usage and mounted drives

Check how much space you have, and see where drives are mounted.

# Disk usage summary:
df -h

# Size of a specific folder:
du -sh ~/Downloads

# List mounted drives:
lsblk