The Linux filesystem

The Linux filesystem consists of a logical collection of files that are stored on a partition or a disk. Your hard drive can have one or many partitions. Those partitions usually contain only one filesystem, and they can extend to an entire disk. One filesystem could be the / (root) filesystem and another the /home filesystem. Or, there can be just one that contains all filesystems.

Generally, using one filesystem per partition is considered to be good practice by allowing for logical maintenance and management. As everything in Linux is a file, physical devices such as hard drives, DVD drives, USB devices, and floppy drives are treated as files too. In this section, you will learn about the directory structure, how to work with files, and some very useful editing techniques from the command line.

Directory structure

Linux uses a hierarchical filesystem structure. It is similar to an upside-down tree, with the root (`/`) at the base of the filesystem....