How to change terminal from ~ to /

Question

I do not know what ~$ or /$ mean in terminal. But, I really need to change my terminal from ~ to /. To change a folder permission, for putting a php file in var/www/html. Maybe there is an easy way to change ~ to / in terminal.

Answer 1

I can see you are both new and frustrated.

By default when you open a terminal or log in you will be in your home directory, /home/your_user_name, or ~ for short.

You can always return with cd ~

You can change directories with the cd command, for example, cd / or what have you.

Understand the difference between relative and absolute directories.

From home, or ~ you can cd into documents with the relative path

cd Documents

or absolute path

cd /home/your_user/Documents

or with ~

cd ~/Documents

but you are asking about system files or things outside $HOME. For that you typically need root powers.

BUT for /var/www/html see the link I gave you : How to avoid using sudo when working in /var/www?

For additional information see :

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FilePermissions

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

This is also a very helpful resource: https://cfhcable.dl.sourceforge.net/project/linuxcommand/TLCL/16.07/TLCL-16.07.pdf

dont be overwhelmed by the length of the document, it goes fast, and you may need to read only the first chapter or two.