Folders in Linux

A Folder in Linux is also a File. It is a File with the list of other Files and sub-folders if any included in it. It contains a list of filenames and the corresponding inodes for each file.

This is how a folder looks like in Linux. Officially a Folder in Linux is called a Directory. If you look at the first character of the permission string in a full listing, a folder is denoted by a "d", that is a Directory. The same name is also used in the command names, such as cd for Change Directory.

It will be useful to remind ourselves the dictionary meaning of the word directory. As in a Telephone Directory. A list of items. This is exactly what a directory in Linux is. A list of files.

We will refer it as a Folder for our convenience.