Where do I find my user folder in the OS X folder hierarchy?

In Terminal, how do I go from Macintosh HD to places such as johnsmith that contains Downloads, Desktop etc. In a Finder window, it seems they are independent of each other.

From Macintosh HD, I see Library, Applications etc. but under User I couldn't find johnsmith.

The Mac file tree is rather confusing for a Windows user like me who are used to "My Computer" then all files are managed by root drives and folders. What is consider as root on my Mac? Is it Macintosh HD or johnsmith? It is possible to do a partition on Mac like that on Windoes?

Solution 1:

You can find the location to your home directory by looking in the "Users & Groups" System Preference pane.

1. Open "System Preferences" application
2. Click "Users & Groups"
3. Click the padlock to unlock it, if it is not already unlocked. Enter user name and password for an Admin user.
4. Right click on the User name you want to find the home directory for, select "Advanced Options..."
5. Observe the path as noted next to "Home directory:"

Now, once you see where OS X thinks your home folder is located then you can work on un hiding it if it is not showing up where it is suppose to be.

Make sure its name does not start with ".", Additionally you can use the SetFile -a v /pathToHome command to make it visible if it appears to be hidden for no apparent reason.

Solution 2:

To find where it is, open Terminal and type pwd for "Print Working Directory". This works because the Terminal opens in your home folder by default.

You can move to your home folder in terminal by typing one of cd (defaults to your home folder), cd $HOME (moves to the location in that environment variable), or cd ~ (a shortcut for home), or cd /Users/johnsmith/ (the absolute path).