hier — layout of
filesystems
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)
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
A hier manual page appeared in
Version 7 AT&T UNIX.