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andrewsomething
Asked: 2011-12-05 11:47:27 +0800 CST

What does `~/ ` mean?

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I'm new to Linux and Ubuntu. People keep using ~/filename in their answers to my questions. What does ~/ mean?

command-line

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    ~/ is shorthand for the current user's home folder. So if your user name is "foobar" it expands to /home/foobar/

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  2. An important thing is, if you are using the root user, ~/ will be the /root directory, not /home/user_name.

    In this case, do:

    > cd ~/ ; pwd ;

    It will exit:

    > /root
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  3. In general the tilde ~ represents your home folder. Use it to refer to your home directory at the command line.

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