macOS Terminal Tutorial for Beginners

Listing

2. 2. Listing

   Now try to List the Directory’s Contents
   To List the Directory you are in execute:

   ls .

   The “.” is optional and meaning the Location you are in.
   [See how the Command “ls” is just an Abbreviation for Listing!]
   The default Location each time you open a New Terminal Window is the Home Folder.
   So the Output of the Command should be very similar to this:

   Desktop/    Downloads/  Pictures/   tmp/
   Documents/  Music/      Templates/  Videos/
   

   Here the Entities with a Trailing Slash are Directories.
   Again to List the Downloads Folder inside on your Home, run:

   ls ~/Downloads

   Or also:

   ls $HOME/Downloads

   Where “$HOME” is an Environment Variable always containing your User’s Home Path.
   Next to List the Main System’s Root Directory:
   (The Root of What? Of the System’s Directory Tree. The Trunk, all the other Directories are Branches.)

   ls /

   So possibly to List the “usr” Directory:
   [Again an Abbreviation for “User System Resources“]:

   ls /usr

   Finally, to List the “bin” Branch:
   [Again an Abbreviation for “Binaries” (The Executables)]

   ls /usr/bin