HIER(7)

NAME
hier - layout of filesystems

DESCRIPTION
A historical sketch of the filesystem hierarchy. The modern OS X filesystem is documented in the “File System Programming Guide” available on Apple Developer.

/   root directory of the filesystem

/bin/
    user utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments

/dev/
    block and character device files

    fd/ file descriptor files; see fd(4)

/etc/
    system configuration files and scripts

/mach_kernel
    kernel executable (the operating system loaded into memory at boot time).

/sbin/
    system programs and administration utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments

/tmp/
    temporary files

/usr/
    contains the majority of user utilities and applications

    bin/
        common utilities, programming tools, and applications
    include/
        standard C include files

        arpa/
            C include files for Internet service protocols
        hfs/
            C include files for HFS
        machine/
            machine specific C include files
        net/
            misc network C include files
        netinet/
            C include files for Internet standard protocols; see inet(4)
        nfs/
            C include files for NFS (Network File System)
        objc/
            C include files for Objective-C
        protocols/
            C include files for Berkeley service protocols
        sys/
            system C include files (kernel data structures)
        ufs/
            C include files for UFS

    lib/
        archive libraries
    libexec/
        system daemons & system utilities (executed by other programs)
    local/
        executables, libraries, etc. not included by the basic operating system
    sbin/
        system daemons & system utilities (executed by users)
    share/
        architecture-independent data files

        calendar/
            a variety of pre-fab calendar files; see calendar(1)
        dict/
            word lists; see look(1)

            web2
                words from Webster's 2nd International
            words
                common words

        man/
            manual pages
        misc/
            misc system-wide ascii text files
        mk/ templates for make; see make(1)
        skel/
            example . (dot) files for new accounts
        tabset/
            tab description files for a variety of terminals; used in the termcap file; see termcap(5)
        zoneinfo/
            timezone configuration information; see tzfile(5)

/var/
    multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files

    at/ timed command scheduling files; see at(1)
    backups/
        misc. backup files
    db/ misc. automatically generated system-specific database files
    log/
        misc. system log files

    mail/
        user mailbox files
    run/
        system information files describing various info about system since it was booted

        utmpx
            database of current users; see utmpx(5)

    rwho/
        rwho data files; see rwhod(8), rwho(1), and ruptime(1)
    spool/
        misc. printer and mail system spooling directories

        mqueue/
            undelivered mail queue; see sendmail(8)

    tmp/
        temporary files that are kept between system reboots
    folders/
        per-user temporary files and caches

SEE ALSO
ls(1), apropos(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), finger(1), which(1), find(1), grep(1), fsck(8)

HISTORY
A hier manual page appeared in AT&T UNIX.