Common Location Paths

šŸ§ Linux

LocationDescriptionExample
$HOME or ~User’s home directory/home/username
$TMPDIR or $TMPTemporary files directory/tmp
$XDG_CONFIG_HOMEUser’s configuration directory/home/username/.config
$XDG_DATA_HOMEUser’s data directory/home/username/.local/share
$XDG_CACHE_HOMEUser’s cache directory/home/username/.cache
$XDG_RUNTIME_DIRUser’s runtime directory/run/user/1000
/rootRoot user’s home directory/root
/etcSystem configuration directory/etc
/varVariable data directory/var
/usrUser programs and data directory/usr
/optOptional software packages directory/opt
/bootBoot loader files directory/boot
/procProcess and system information directory/proc
/sysSystem and device information directory/sys
/devDevice files directory/dev
/mntMount points for filesystems/mnt
/mediaRemovable media mount points/media
/srvService-specific data directory/srv
/runRuntime variable data directory/run

šŸŖŸ Windows

LocationDescriptionExample
%windir%Windows installation directoryC:\Windows
%SystemRoot%Alias for %windir%C:\Windows
%ProgramFiles%Default directory for 64-bit programsC:\Program Files
%ProgramFiles(x86)%Default directory for 32-bit programs on 64-bit systemsC:\Program Files (x86)
%CommonProgramFiles%Default directory for 64-bit common filesC:\Program Files\Common Files
%CommonProgramFiles(x86)%Default directory for 32-bit common files on 64-bit systemsC:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files
%SystemDrive%Drive letter of the system partitionC:
%USERPROFILE%Path to the current user’s profile directoryC:\Users\username
%APPDATA%User’s roaming application data directoryC:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming
%LOCALAPPDATA%User’s local application data directoryC:\Users\username\AppData\Local
%TEMP% or %TMP%User’s temporary files directoryC:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp
%HOMEDRIVE%Drive letter of the user’s home directoryC:
%HOMEPATH%Path to the user’s home directory\Users\username
%PATH%Semicolon-separated list of executable search pathsC:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32
%PATHEXT%Semicolon-separated list of executable file extensions.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC
%PUBLIC%Path to the public user directoryC:\Users\Public
%USERNAME%The name of the current userusername
%COMPUTERNAME%The name of the computerDESKTOP-XXXXXX