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What is a HOME Directory?

When you use a computer, especially a Linux or Mac computer (but Windows has something similar), you usually have a user account. Just like every person in a house might have their own room, every user on a computer gets their own space—this is their HOME directory.

HOME directory

This is simply a folder where all your stuff (your documents, music, pictures, configuration files, etc.) is kept. It helps keep everyone’s files separate and organized.

For example:

• If your username is alice, your home directory might be /home/alice on Linux.
• If your username is bob, it might be /home/bob.

What is ~ (Tilde)?

The tilde symbol (~) is a shortcut. Instead of typing out your full HOME directory path (like /home/alice), you can just use ~ in the command line. For example:

cd ~

will take you straight to your HOME directory no matter what your username is.

What is the HOME Environmental Variable?

Environmental variables are like little signs or labels that the computer uses to keep track of information.

The HOME environmental variable is a special variable that stores the path (the location) of your HOME directory. So, if your HOME directory is /home/alice, then:

• HOME = /home/alice

You can see what yours is by typing:

echo $HOME

This will print the location of your home directory.

How Do HOME and ~ Relate?

• The tilde ~ is a shortcut that always means: "the folder whose path is stored in the HOME environmental variable".
• So, whether your HOME directory is /home/alice or something else, ~ will always take you there, because the computer checks the value of the HOME variable to know where "home" is.

Put simply:

• ~ lets YOU type less.
• HOME lets the COMPUTER keep track of where "your stuff" is.

Summary

• HOME directory: the main folder for your account with all your files.
• HOME environmental variable: the computer’s way of remembering where your HOME directory is located.
• ~ (Tilde): a shortcut you can use that always means "my home directory" (whatever it may actually be).

So, when you type cd ~, the computer looks up the HOME environmental variable to figure out where to send you