/usr???

So..........I've decided to start learning about UNIX. I've some of the basic concepts down, but I'm a little confused about something. If I'm in the home directory and I type "ls -a", it shows everything in that directory, correct? The tutorial I'm learning from is an old online one from back when OS 10.2 was new. It's right here.

What I'm confused about is that when I type "ls -a" I don't see the directory /usr . However, if I type cd /usr, it takes me to that directory?

This is probably a really basic, newbie, stupid question. If so, I'm sorry.

ls is similar to dir in dos. It show you the contents of that folder. cd is change directory, meaning you are going to cd /usr.

ls will not take you to a directory, only show you the content....

powermacj7 said:

ls is similar to dir in dos. It show you the contents of that folder. cd is change directory, meaning you are going to cd /usr.

ls will not take you to a directory, only show you the content....

Click to expand...

Dont think thats the answer to what was asked.

Basically he wants to know why the /usr folder does not get displayed when he runs the ls command.

Is /usr a hidden directory?

/usr is hidden in Finder. The problem is /usr isn't in your home dir, it's in the root dir. Try using ls -a / or cd'ing to the root dir and using it.
I use ls -lag to show more information.

Thanks cradom. I was confusing /usr with ~/usr. Now I see where it is. Thanks guys!