Navigation in Linux/Unix

How to Navigate in Linux/Unix:

                                                           Navigation is important in any Operating System whether it is Windows , Mac or Linux. To understand the concept of Navigation , first we have to understand the concept of Relative and Absolute path.

Relative Path :

                            To be simple Relative path are all those path which doesn't start with / (root ). Relative path is used when we want to access file or directory which is present in current directory from current directory.

Example

                         cd  program

This command means go to  program  directory which is already present in current directory.

$ pwd
/home/sandeep

$ cd Desktop
$ pwd
/home/sandeep/Desktop
$

Absolute Path:

                                                                

                         what if we want open a file which is in /etc directory and we are in /home directory?  Then we have to use  Absolute path . Absolute path are all those path which start with /(root ). Absolute  path is used when we want to access file or directory which is not present in current directory from current directory.

Example

     Lets say we want to open a hosts file which is present in /etc directory from /home directory.

                                               cat    /etc/hosts

$ pwd
/home/sandeep
$ cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 sandeep-desktop

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1 localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts
$ pwd
/home/sandeep
$

* Notice that we have used Absolute path as it started from /.

Some symbols which  is useful during Navigation

1. /: It represent root directory or top most directory of directory structure.

2. ~ : It represent HOME directory of current user. It is Equivalent to /home

3.  .(dot) : represent current directory.

4. ..(dot dot) : represent parent directory.

* if ~sandeep is used then it represent HOME directory of  user sandeep. It is equivalent to /home/sandeep.

 -> cd (change directory or change current directory ) is used to navigate in Linux/Unix.

keep in mind Relative and Absolute path , lets do some example

1.  We want to go to Desktop directory and we are in /home directory.

$ pwd
/home/sandeep
$ cd Desktop
$ ls
google-chrome.desktop                      opera-browser.desktop
linux-dir-tree1.jpg(linuxconfig.org)    prada.jpg
myphoto.xpm.gz                                Sunset_city_wallpaper_by_Methevas.jpg
new file tron_legacy
$

2. Now we want to go to parent directory of Desktop , how can we achieve that ? you guess it right we have to do

                                cd ..

$ pwd
/home/sandeep/Desktop
$ cd ..
$ pwd
/home/sandeep
$

                                 

*if we write cd .  . You will see nothing different , because .(dot) is for current directory so it simply change to current directory .

$ pwd
/home/sandeep
$ cd .
$ pwd
/home/sandeep
$

                                

3. Lets see the usage of Absolute path .

a. we want to go to the HOME directory of user user1 , we can do it in two ways

               --> cd   /home/user1

               --> cd   ~user1

$ cd /home/user1
$ pwd
/home/user1
$ cd
$ pwd
/home/sandeep
$ cd ~user1
$ pwd
/home/user1
$

* cd (without any path) is used to move to HOME directory of login user ,no matter in which directory user is. 

4. we can do something like that also   cd ../..   to move two level up.

$ pwd
/home/sandeep
$ cd Desktop
$ cd tron_legacy
$ pwd
/home/sandeep/Desktop/tron_legacy
$ cd ../..
$ pwd
/home/sandeep
$

Tricks you can use with cd command

1. cd * : This command works if first file is directory in your current directory.

$ ls
abc.lst    def.lst     examples.desktop    js    Pictures     sandeep2.lst      Videos

$ cd *
bash: cd: abc.lst: Not a directory

*In the above example first file is a normal file abc.lst , so cd * command does not work here.

$ mkdir abc

$ ls
abc def.lst file1 Music sandeep Videos

$ cd *
$ pwd
/home/sandeep/abc

*In above example we have created directory abc , now this is the first file in the  current directory , so if we write cd * then  we move to abc directory.


2.cd - : To move to the last directory you were in.

$ pwd
/home/sandeep

$ cd /
$ pwd
/
$ cd -
/home/sandeep

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