The linux file structure is maintained by Linux System Foundation. The file system contains the following structure.

It can be further seen in terminal (Command line) in this way

The file system can be described here as

/

This is the root directory. Everything in the system is located here whether that is in physical device or virtual devices. Every single file and directory starts from the root directory. Only root user has the right to write under this directory.

/bin

It is the location for binary directory where all the executable files, binaries and Linux commands are located. It contains all the commands used by all the users.

/sbin

This contains executable files, it only contains system binaries which require root privilege to perform certain tasks and are helpful for system maintenance purpose.

/lib

It contains all the shared libraries which is used by ‘/bin’ and ‘/sbin’ . It also contains kernel module.

/opt

It is the directory to store software packages and Add-on applications from users.

/boot

It is the configuration directory. It stores boot loader files which are essential to boot the system.

/etc

It contains all the configuration files related to the machine. The startup and shutdown shell script responsible to start and stop a program are located in ‘ etc ‘. Static text files and binary files cant be placed here. The configuration files in this directory has extension of .conf.