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OPENVIST LEARN · FREE LESSONS

Find your way around folders and paths

Use a small practice folder so that later commands run in the right place.

Lesson 4 of 10 · About 15 minutes · Beginner · English

By the end of this lesson

Create and revisit a practice folder using absolute and relative paths.

Before you start

  • Lesson 3; connected to your VPS.

Three words to know

Working directory
The folder a command uses as its starting location.
Absolute path
A path beginning at the filesystem root, such as /home/learner.
Relative path
A path interpreted from the current working directory.

1. Ask where you are

Inspect your current locationVPS · Bash
pwd
ls -la
What you should see · example output
pwd prints a path. ls -la lists its contents, including names starting with a dot.

pwd changes nothing. ls lists directory entries; it does not open every file. On Linux, file and folder names distinguish uppercase and lowercase. A file called Data.json is different from data.json.

2. Create the practice workspace

Make and enter your own practice folderVPS · Bash
mkdir -p "$HOME/openvist-learn"
cd "$HOME/openvist-learn"
pwd
What you should see · example output
/home/your-username/openvist-learn, or the equivalent under your account’s home directory.

HOME points to your account’s home directory. Quotes keep the path together if it contains spaces. mkdir -p creates missing directories and accepts a directory that already exists. cd changes this shell’s working directory. It does not copy or move your files.

3. Move out and back

Practise relative and home pathsVPS · Bash
mkdir -p examples
cd examples
pwd
cd ..
pwd
cd ~
pwd
cd "$HOME/openvist-learn"
What you should see · example output
The paths show examples, its parent folder and your home. The last command returns to the practice folder.

A single dot means the current folder. Two dots mean its parent. Tilde (~) is a shorthand for home when used in these shell commands. Keep the exact file name and folder in mind when you later run python3: the terminal does not search every folder for your script.

Recover from a path error

YOUR TURN

A small check before you continue

From home, enter the examples subfolder, then return to the practice folder without using an absolute path.

Show a suggested answer

From home: cd openvist-learn/examples. Then run cd .. (two dots). The final pwd should end in /openvist-learn.

Sources and scope

Documentation and examples reviewed 2026-10-18. Provider screens, package versions and output wording can differ. Examples show expected outcomes; they are not a claim that OpenViST connected to your server or verified your setup.