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Everything in Linux lives in one tree that starts at /, the root. Your shell is always somewhere in that tree: its working directory. pwd (print working directory) tells you where.
~/project has a small tree for you: notes/2026/october, plus a shortcut called shortcut.
This lab is the hands-on companion to the pwd (Print Working Directory) lesson from Linux Journey (CC BY-SA 4.0).
pwd
/home/learner/project
This is an absolute path: it starts at / and names every directory on the way down. The prompt shows the same place as ~/project, because ~ is short for your home directory, /home/learner.
Move three levels down in one go, then ask where you are:
cd notes/2026/october
pwd
/home/learner/project/notes/2026/october
Each / separates one directory from the next.
~/project/shortcut is a symbolic link, a shortcut that points at another directory. Go into it:
cd ~/project/shortcut
pwd
pwd -P
Plain pwd shows the path you used. pwd -P (physical) resolves the shortcut and shows where you really are:
/home/learner/project/shortcut
/home/learner/project/notes/2026/october
You can always find out where you are.
pwd prints the absolute path of the working directory./ separates directories; ~ means your home directory.pwd -P shows the real location behind symbolic links.