Instructor: Hey, folks.
Let's spend a couple of minutes and understand what is root.
I know a lot of people have this confusion
about root, root directory, root user,
so I'm going to quickly explain you as exactly
what are the different references in Linux system as root.
There are three types of root on a Linux system.
The first one is the root account.
Root is an account or a username on Linux machine,
and it is the most powerful account
which has access to all commands and files.
It is just like an administrator account
compared to Windows System.
But in Linux environment, that account is called root.
And of course, it is in smaller or lowercase letters,
r-o-o-t.
Then the second one is root as the /,
the very first directory in Linux.
That is also referred to as a root directory.
Many times you're gonna hear,
"Hey, go to the root directory."
Whenever you hear this,
these exact wordings, "Go to root directory."
It means they're asking you to go to / directory,
which is a very first directory in Linux file system.
Then the third one is root home directory.
The root user account also has a directory
just like any user account would have its home directory.
And that directory is located in /root,
which is called the root home directory.
So again, when someone refers you,
or ask you go to root directory,
then you'll have to go to / only.
When someone says go to root home directory,
then you'll have to go to /root.
And someone says, "Hey what is your account?
Go log into the root account or become a root."
Then it means you have to switch to their root account.
It does not mean that you have to go
to the / directory or /root directory.