File Structure

Files on your computer are organized in folders. The "address" for one of these folders is called a path. Operating systems intentionally hide these paths from users to make the operating system more user-friendly. Most users don't need to understand the file structure. The operating system will create shortcuts to these folders and place them on the left side of your file explorer (Windows) or finder (Mac).

The root path is the topmost folder on your computer. It's usually called "C:\" on Windows or "/" on Mac. There are multiple folders in there, such as "Program Files" or "Applications." Another folder is "Users," which contains folders for each user on the computer. Your Desktop's path on a Mac is /Users/username/Desktop or C:\Users\username\Desktop on Windows.

You should always know where your files are on your computer! Even if you have "iCloud" on the left side of finder, those folders still have a path on your computer. All the cloud means is that the files may be backed up to a server and downloaded when you request them. But the Operating system manages all of that, and it should be transparent to you.

Terminal

Here is a very beginner lesson on the terminal to explore your file system. If you are on Windows you need WSL to do this, but you can also do it in Power Shell or the command prompt. The syntax will be different than what I'm describing.

Common Commands

• cd [folder] - Open up the folder you type. If you give an absolute path such as /Users/username it will open that path. If you give a relative (not leading with a /), it will open the folder relative to your current location.
• . - present location. Typing "cd myFolder" and "cd ./myFolder" is the same thing.
• .. - previous folder. If you were in /Users/eric and wanted to go to /Users/trojan you could type "cd ../trojan"
• ls - displays all the files in a folder
• mv [from] [to] - Move a file or folder such as "mv ./file.txt ../differenFolder/"
• rm [file] - delete (Be careful! It will be gone forever)

Open up your terminal and type "cd /" then type "ls" and you will see all the files and folders in your root directory. Then type "cd Users" and type "ls" again to see all the users on your computer. Eventually... the terminal will replace you clicking around in finder. It's faster when you get good at it. Use tab to auto complete when you've typed enough. For example "cd /U [tab]" and if that is the only folder that starts with U, it will auto complete.