How do I direct a file to be stored in a different folder?

Question

So I'm trying to direct a file to be created in another folder (let's say on my Desktop) from my bin directory. I made a text file with all the files in the directory using ls > textfile but this only creates the file in the bin directory, and so I'd like to know how I would direct it to the Desktop straight from bin?

Answer 1

You specify a path:

ls > ~/Desktop/textfile

• ~ is your home directory
• / separates components in the path
• so to point to something inside your home directory, say baz instead in bar inside foo, you do ~/foo/bar/baz.

Also see:

• When to use a preceding slash in path names? (e.g. for the 'cd' command)

Answer 2

Just put ls > path/to/your/desktop/textfile. A file named textfile will be created in your desktop.

Answer 3

You can do it by

ls > ~/Desktop/textfile