Home directory (~) and shortcuts in Linux CLI - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Home Directory (~) and Shortcuts in Linux CLI

📖 Scenario: You are learning to use the Linux command line. One important part is understanding the home directory and shortcuts like ~ which means your home folder. This helps you move around files and folders easily.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use the home directory shortcut ~ and other shortcuts to list files and navigate directories in Linux CLI.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a variable with the path to the home directory using ~

Create a variable with the path to the Documents folder inside the home directory

Use a command to list files in the Documents folder using the shortcut variable

Print the list of files found in the Documents folder

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Using shortcuts like <code>~</code> helps you write scripts that work on any Linux user's computer without hardcoding full paths.

💼 Career

Many jobs require automating tasks on Linux servers or desktops where knowing how to use home directory shortcuts is essential for file management.

1

Create a variable for the home directory using ~

Create a variable called home_dir and set it to the string "~" which represents the home directory shortcut.

Linux CLI

# Create a variable called home_dir and set it to "~"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The tilde ~ is a shortcut for your home directory in Linux.

2

Create a variable for the Documents folder inside the home directory

Create a variable called documents_dir and set it to the string that joins home_dir and "/Documents" using string concatenation.

Linux CLI

home_dir = "~"
# Create a variable called documents_dir by joining home_dir and "/Documents"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use +"/Documents" to add the Documents folder to the home directory path.

3

List files in the Documents folder using the shortcut variable

Use the os module to list files in the directory stored in documents_dir. Import os and create a variable called files that stores the list of files using os.listdir(documents_dir).

Linux CLI

home_dir = "~"
documents_dir = home_dir + "/Documents"
# Import os module
# Create a variable files with os.listdir(documents_dir)
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use os.path.expanduser() to convert ~ to the full home path before listing files.

4

Print the list of files found in the Documents folder

Print the variable files to display the list of files in the Documents folder.

Linux CLI

import os

home_dir = "~"
documents_dir = home_dir + "/Documents"
files = os.listdir(os.path.expanduser(documents_dir))
# Print the files variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The output will be a list of file names or an empty list if the Documents folder is empty.