HIER(7)

NAME
hier - layout of filesystems

DESCRIPTION
A sketch of the filesystem hierarchy.

/   root directory of the filesystem

/bin/
    user utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments

/dev/
    block and character device files

    MAKEDEV
        script for creating device files; see makedev(8)
    fd/ file descriptor files; see fd(4)

/etc/
    system configuration files and scripts

    localtime
        local timezone information; see ctime(3)
    disklabels/
        backup disklabels; see disklabel(8)
    kerberosIV/
        configuration files for the kerberos version IV; see kerberos(1)
    mtree/
        mtree configuration files; see mtree(1)
    namedb/
        named configuration files; see named(8)

/mnt/
    empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a temporary mount point

/sbin/
    system programs and administration utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments

/stand/
    programs used in a standalone environment

/tmp/
    temporary files, usually a mfs(8) memory-based filesystem (the contents of /tmp are usually NOT preserved across a system reboot)

/usr/
    contains the majority of user utilities and applications

    bin/
        common utilities, programming tools, and applications
    contrib/
        large packages contributed to Berkeley by outside parties
    games/
        useful and semi-frivolous programs
    include/
        standard C include files

        X11/
            C include files for X11 window system
        arpa/
            C include files for Internet service protocols
        kerberosIV/
            C include files for kerberos authentication package; see kerberos(1)
        machine/
            machine specific C include files
        net/
            misc network C include files
        netimp/
            C include files for IMP protocols; see imp(4)
        netinet/
            C include files for Internet standard protocols; see inet(4)
        netiso/
            C include files for ISO standard protocols; see iso(4)
        netns/
            C include files for XNS standard protocols; see ns(4)
        nfs/
            C include files for NFS (Network File System)
        pascal/
            include files for pc 1
        protocols/
            C include files for Berkeley service protocols
        sys/
            system C include files (kernel data structures)
        ufs/
            C include files for UFS (The U-word File System)

    lib/
        archive libraries

        uucp/
            UUCP configuration files (historically placed; to be moved)
    libdata/
        misc. utility data files
    libexec/
        system daemons & system utilities (executed by other programs)
    local/
        local executables, libraries, etc.
    obj/
        architecture-specific target tree produced by building the /usr/src tree
    old/
        programs from past lives of BSD which may disappear in future releases
    sbin/
        system daemons & system utilities (executed by users)
    share/
        architecture-independent ascii text files

        calendar/
            a variety of pre-fab calendar files; see calendar(1)
        dict/
            word lists; see look(1)

            words
                common words
            web2
                words from Webster's 2nd International
            papers/
                reference databases; see refer(1)
            special/
                custom word lists; see spell(1)

        doc/
            misc documentation; src for most of the printed BSDBSD manuals (available from the USENIX association)
        games/
            ascii text files used by various games
        man/
            manual pages
        me/ macros for use with the me macro package
        misc/
            misc system-wide ascii text files
            termcap
                terminal characteristics database; see termcap(5)
        mk/ templates for make; see make(1)
        ms/ macros for use with the ms macro package
        skel/
            example . (dot) files for new accounts
        tabset/
            tab description files for a variety of terminals; used in the termcap file; see termcap(5)
        tmac/
            text processing macros; see nroff(1) and troff(1)
        zoneinfo/
            timezone configuration information; see tzfile(5)

    src/
        BSD and/or local source files

        bin/
            src for files in /bin
        contrib/
            src for files in /usr/contrib
        etc/
            src for files in /etc
        games/
            src for files in /usr/games
        include/
            src for files in /usr/include
        kerberosIV/
            src for kerberos version IV
        lib/
            src for files in /usr/lib
        libexec/
            src for files in /usr/libexec
        local/
            src for files in /usr/local
        old/
            src for files in /usr/old
        pgrm/
            src for programming tools in /usr/bin
        sbin/
            src for files in /sbin
        share/
            src for files in /usr/share
        sys/
            kernel src files
        usr.bin/
            src for files in /usr/bin
        usr.sbin/
            src for files in /usr/sbin

/var/
    multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files

    account/
        system accounting files

        acct
            execution accounting file; see acct(5)

    at/ timed command scheduling files; see at(1)
    backups/
        misc. backup files
    db/ misc. automatically generated system-specific database files
    games/
        misc. game status and log files
    log/
        misc. system log files

        wtmp
            login/logout log; see wtmp(5)

    mail/
        user mailbox files
    preserve/
        temporary home of files preserved after an accidental death of an editor; see ex(1)
    quotas/
        filesystem quota information files
    run/
        system information files describing various info about system since it was booted

        utmp
            database of current users; see utmp(5)

    rwho/
        rwho data files; see rwhod(8), rwho(1), and ruptime(1)
    spool/
        misc. printer and mail system spooling directories

        ftp/
            commonly ~ftp; the anonymous ftp root directory
        mqueue/
            undelivered mail queue; see sendmail(8)
        output/
            line printer spooling directories
        secretmail/
            secretmail spool directory; see xget(1)
        uucp/
            uucp spool directory
        uucppublic/
            commonly ~uucp; public uucp temporary directory

    tmp/
        temporary files that are kept between system reboots

/kernel
    pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded into memory at boot time).

SEE ALSO
ls(1), apropos(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), finger(1), which(1), find(1), grep(1), fsck(8)

HISTORY
A hier manual page appeared in AT&T UNIX.