A directory, also commonly called a folder, is a filesystem object used for organizing files and other directories.
Questions tagged [directory]
682 questions
146
votes
7 answers
Meaning of directories on Unix and Unix like systems
I've been using Linux for a couple of years now but I still haven't figured out what the origin or meaning of some the directory names are on Unix and Unix like systems. E.g. what does etc stand for or var? Where does the opt name come from?
And…

Luke
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130
votes
9 answers
How to copy file preserving directory path in Linux?
I have Eclipse projects and ".project" file in them, the directory structure looks like 'myProject/.project'. I want to copy these '.project' files to another directory, but I want the enclosing directory name to be preserved.
Let's say I have…

dhblah
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123
votes
24 answers
rm on a directory with millions of files
Background: physical server, about two years old, 7200-RPM SATA drives connected to a 3Ware RAID card, ext3 FS mounted noatime and data=ordered, not under crazy load, kernel 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5, uptime 545 days. Directory doesn't contain any…

BMDan
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109
votes
1 answer
What is the purpose of the ".well-known"-folder?
If've found a new error message in our log files and would like to know, for what this .well_known folder is used for.
Which application/client would need to access such a folder and which application would create files inside it?
Here are some…

Sascha
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84
votes
3 answers
logrotating files in a directories and its subdirectories
Is it possible to get logrotate to consider logfiles in a directory and all its subdirectories? (i.e. without explicitly listing the subdirectories.)

ithinkihaveacat
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79
votes
4 answers
How to keep the full path with rsync?
When backing up with rsync, How do I keep the full directory structure?
For example, the remote server is saturn, and I want to backup saturn's /home/udi/files/pictures to a local directory named backup.
I want to have (locally)…

Adam Matan
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69
votes
7 answers
Should websites live in /var/ or /usr/ according to recommended usage?
According to a guide on the Linux directory structure, /usr/ is for application files, and /var/ is for files that change (I assume this means "files that belong to the applications"). Is this correct?
If this is the case then I'm a little torn…

Nick Bolton
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61
votes
3 answers
Mount Remote CIFS/SMB Share as a Folder not a Drive Letter
Is there any way to mount a remote CIFS/SMB/SAMBA share as a folder/directory and not as a drive letter. For example, I want this map:
\\Server\ShareName -> C:\Folder\ShareName
Instead of the usual map like this:
\\Server\ShareName -> Z:\
The…

Anagoge
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50
votes
14 answers
Linux - What directories should I exclude when backing up a server?
I'm backing up a Linux server and storing it on another server.
I began with a simple
rsync -aPh --del server.example.com:/ /mnt/backup
Then someone pointed out that I shouldn't back up /proc, since you don't want to restore the /proc of one…

Amandasaurus
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50
votes
3 answers
Add directory structure to SVN, without files
Is there a way to add a directory structure to an SVN repository without adding the files contained in the folders?

fresskoma
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46
votes
3 answers
What is the maximum number of files a file system can contain?
Given the current structure of a directory entry on a ext4 file system on Ubuntu, what is the maximum number of files a file system can contain?
What is the general method of calculating the maximum number of files a file system can contain?
user32678
45
votes
2 answers
Difference between and Apache directives
I have Zend Server installed and noticed something like the following was added to my httpd.conf file:
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from 127.0.0.1
Alias /ZendServer "C:\Program…

rfgamaral
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44
votes
13 answers
How do you handle "CMD does not support UNC paths as current directories"?
I am attempting to change directories to a file server such as:
cd \\someServer\\someStuff\
However, I get the following error:
CMD does not support UNC paths as
current directories
What are my options to navigate to that directory?

Ray
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41
votes
5 answers
What do these abbreviations stand for?
Some directories are easy to understand the meaning
/usr
/bin
...
But for the next ones, I have no idea.
/etc
/opt
opt for optional?
etc for electronic t...... configuration (no idea for t)
I would like to know what these abbreviations mean.

Luc M
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36
votes
3 answers
compare 2 directories and copy differences in a 3rd directory
Running ubuntu 12.04, I want to compare 2 directories, say folder1/ and folder2/ and copy any files that are different to folder3/. There are also nested files, so matching subdirectories should be copied as well
Is there a single command that…

periklis
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