Difference between root and home directory in terminal

Question

When I use the Linux terminal, I see 2 prompts: / and ~. Can someone tell me the difference between them?

Answer 1

Root directory which is referred to as / (a slash) is the topmost level of the system drive while Home directory which is /Users/<short username> (also referred to as ~) comes under the root directory.  In root directory, the admin has the access for any changes in the configuration settings whereas if any user has only access to home directory, then he wont be able to change configurations of the entire system.

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