A home directory is the personal folder of a user.

Default location:

/home/username

/home/aryan

User filesDownloadsConfigurationsScriptsHidden files

ls /home/aryan

Important Hidden Files

.bashrc.profile.ssh

Create User with Home Directory

sudo useradd -m devuser

/home/devuser

1. Skeleton Files

Skeleton files are default files copied to every new user's home directory.

ls /etc/skel

.bashrc.profile.bash_logout

How It Works

When new user is created:

sudo useradd -m devuser

Linux copies files from:

/home/devuser

Real-World Example

Add default welcome file:

echo "Welcome DevOps Team" | sudo tee /etc/skel/welcome.txt

Now every new user gets:

welcome.txt

in home directory.

Quick Difference

Home DirectorySkeleton Files

Personal user folderDefault template files

/home/user/etc/skel

Stores user dataCreates default setup