Directory Structure in linux system

This article will teach you about  directory structure on Linux OS. Because user comes from Windows environment have problem to understand what the different directory stands for in Linux.  since every standard directory in the Linux have special meaning and it store data according to its meaning. 

There is a list of different standard Linux directory with it's meaning.

1. /- The Root directory
2. /bin Directory
3. /usr/bin
4. /boot
5. /dev
6. /etc
7. /lib
8. /mnt
9. /root
10. /sbin
11. /tmp
12. /usr
13. /usr/local 

Linux File System

/ – The Root Directory : Everything on your Linux system is located under the "/" directory, known as the root directory. This is where the Linux system begins. Every other file and directory on your system is under the root directory.

/bin – Essential Binaries : The /bin directory contains the essential user binaries (programs) that must be present when the system is mounted in single-user mode. The /bin directory contains the most important programs that the system needs to operate, such as the shells, kill,mv,rmdir,ls,grep  and other essential things.

/usr/bin : The /usr/bin contains applications for the system's users. like installed application java, eclipse,

  

/boot : The /boot directory contains the files needed to boot the system – for example, the GRUB boot loader’s files and your Linux kernels are stored here

This is the place where linux kernel loaded. when you try to list /boot partion in 
ubuntu you see vmlinuz, which is kernel image.

/dev – Device Files : Since in linux everything is file. so in linux device is also file and the /dev directory contains a number of special files that represent devices. These are not actual files as we know them, but they appear as files – for example, /dev/sda represents the first SATA drive in the system. If you wanted to partition it, you could start a partition editor and tell it to edit /dev/sda.

/etc – Configuration Files : The /etc directory contains configuration files. Note that the /etc/ directory contains system-wide configuration files.

for example
 /etc/passwd file : A file that contains various pieces of information for each user account. This is where the users are defined.

/etc/environment file:The /etc/environment file contains variables specifying the basic environment for all processes.  

/lib : The shared libraries for programs that are dynamically linked. The shared libraries are similar to DLL's on Winblows.The /lib directory contains libraries needed by the essential binaries in the /bin and /sbin folder. Libraries needed by the binaries in the /usr/bin folder are located in /usr/lib.

/mnt : The /mnt directory and its subdirectories are intended for use as the temporary mount points for mounting storage devices, such as CDROMs, floppy disks and USB (universal serial bus) key drives.

/root – Root Home Directory : The /root directory is the home directory of the root user or super user. Instead of being located at /home/root, it’s located at /root.

/sbin : The /sbin directory is similar to the /bin directory. It contains essential binaries that are generally intended to be run by the root user for system administration.

/tmp : This partition store temporary files in the /tmp directory. These files are generally deleted whenever the system is restarted.

/usr : The /usr directory contains applications and files used by users.

/usr/local : This is where we install apps and other files for use on the local machine