Typical Unix Directory Structure

Question 1

Where does the Linux file system begin?

Answer 1

The root directory (“ / “)

Question 2

What are the sub-directories of the root?

Answer 2

/bin , /etc, /sbin, /usr, /var, /dev, /home, /lib, /mnt, /opt, /proc, /root

Question 3

What is the root directory (“ / “)?

Answer 3

The root is the logical beginning of the Linux file system and contains the entirety of your operating system.

Question 4

/bin

Answer 4

contains most of your binary files, typically for the Linux terminal commands and core utilities such as cd, pwd, ls, and so on.

Question 5

Where is firefox located?

Answer 5

/usr/bin

Question 6

/boot

Answer 6

The directory where all the files needed to boot the system are kept

Question 7

What directory do most people like to keep on its own separate partition?

Answer 7

/boot

Question 8

/dev

Answer 8

The where all of your physical devices are mounted such as your hard disk, USB drive etc.

Question 9

Where is your system hard drive mounted?

Answer 9

/dev/sda

Question 10

Where can a USB thumb drive be mounted?

Answer 10

/dev/sde

Question 11

/etc

Answer 11

The directory where configuration files are stored.

Question 12

/home

Answer 12

The directory where all of your personal files are located such as The Desktop, Documents, Photos and Videos.
For non-root users

Question 13

What is the default location that the terminal points to when you open a command-line terminal?

Answer 13

/home/username folder (Unless you have changed the default location)

Question 14

/lib

Answer 14

The directory where the libraries are kept.

Question 15

What are libraries?

Answer 15

Libraries are the files needed for your programs to work on Linux.

Question 16

What makes Linux installation more lightweight than Windows?

Answer 16

Because libraries can be shared between different programs in Linux while in Windows every program has its own library installed even if it already exists in another program.

Question 17

/media

Answer 17

Another place where external devices such as optical drives and USB drives can be mounted. (varies between distros)

Question 18

/mnt

Answer 18

A placeholder folder which is used for mounting other folders or drives.

Question 19

/opt

Answer 19

Optional software for your system that is not already managed by your distro’s package manager.

Question 20

/proc

Answer 20

The “processes” folder where a lot of system information is represented as files.

Question 21

/root

Answer 21

Similar to /home but this is specifically for the root user called superuser

Question 22

/sbin

Answer 22

Similar to /bin but this is for certain commands that can be run only by the root user or superuser

Question 23

/tmp

Answer 23

The directory where temporary files are stored and are usually deleted on shutdown.

Question 24

/usr

Answer 24

Contains files and utilites that are shared between users such as users programs, library files, docs, etc.

Question 25

/var

Answer 25

The directory where variable data is kept, usually system logs but can also include other types of data as well.