CIS126RH  ·  Chapter 6

Navigating the
Filesystem Hierarchy

Retrieval Practice Quiz  ·  Fill in the Blank

✏️  Close your notes.
⏎  Press Space or → to advance.
💡  Try to answer each question before pressing Space again to reveal the answer.

Red Hat System Administration I  ·  Mesa Community College

Question 1 of 10

The root of it all

The top-level directory of the entire Linux filesystem is called the   directory and is represented by a single character:  

Think about what you type at the very beginning of an absolute path.
Answer The root directory, represented by /

Question 2 of 10

Where do configs live?

Configuration files for system services and applications are stored in the   directory.

If you need to edit the SSH daemon config, or the hostname, this is where you go.
Answer /etc

Question 3 of 10

Two kinds of paths

A path that always begins at the root of the filesystem and starts with / is called a(n)   path.

A path expressed relative to your current location is called a(n)   path.

Answer Absolute path  ·  Relative path

Question 4 of 10

Where am I?

The command   prints the full absolute path of your current working directory.

Three letters. You should run this before issuing any relative path you're unsure about.
Answer pwd  — Print Working Directory

Question 5 of 10

Dot notation

In a path, a single dot  .  refers to the   directory, and double dot  ..  refers to the   directory.

Answer . = current directory  ·  .. = parent directory

Question 6 of 10

Where do logs go?

Log files generated by the system and running services are stored under  

The parent directory holds data that grows and changes while the system runs.
Answer /var/log

Question 7 of 10

A RHEL 9 change

On RHEL 9 and later, /bin is not a real directory — it is a   that points to  

This is the "usr merge." Run ls -la / and look at how /bin is listed.
Answer A symbolic link (symlink) pointing to /usr/bin

Question 8 of 10

Going home

Typing cd with no arguments takes you to your   directory. The shortcut character for this location is  

Answer Your home directory  ·  Shortcut: ~ (tilde)

Question 9 of 10

The virtual filesystem

The   directory contains virtual files that represent running processes and kernel information. Its contents are generated at runtime and are never written to disk.

Answer /proc

Question 10 of 10

Temporary storage

A new admin needs a location to store a file that will only be needed until the next reboot. The appropriate directory is  , because its contents are not guaranteed to persist across reboots.

Answer /tmp — world-writable, cleared on reboot

Bonus Extra credit

Root's home

The home directory for the root superuser account is   — which is different from the root of the filesystem.

Regular users have home directories under /home. Root is special.
Answer /root  (not the same as /)

Answer Key — Q1 to Q5

Quick Reference

Q1   root directory  /
Q2   /etc
Q3   absolute · relative
Q4   pwd
Q5   current · parent

Answer Key — Q6 to Bonus

Quick Reference

Q6   /var/log
Q7   symlink → /usr/bin
Q8   home dir  ~
Q9   /proc
Q10   /tmp
Bonus   /root

CIS126RH Ch. 6 — Mesa Community College