Map Nginx Roots and Aliases

You need to find which document roots and aliases Nginx config points at.

Command

grep -RInE '^[[:space:]]*(root|alias)[[:space:]]' fixtures/nginx/conf.d fixtures/nginx/sites-enabled

Before you run this

System impact: Read-only. Can create load on large logs, directories, filesystems, or process tables.

When not to use it: Do not assume root and alias behave the same inside location blocks.

Expected output

Config paths and lines containing root or alias directives.

System impact

Read-only, can be slow. Nothing changes. The command lists filesystem path directives from config.

Scope this to the smallest useful path or service on busy systems.

Recovery / rollback: no state is changed.

When to use it

Use when static assets, uploads, or index files return 404 unexpectedly.

When not to use it

Do not assume root and alias behave the same inside location blocks.

Watch this command run

Command transcript

This sanitized transcript shows the commands and output shape without exposing host details.

demo@lab:~$

$ grep -RInE '^[[:space:]]*(root|alias)[[:space:]]' sample-files/nginx/conf.d sample-files/nginx/sites-enabled

sample-files/nginx/conf.d/admin.conf:4:    root /srv/www/admin;
sample-files/nginx/sites-enabled/example.conf:9:    root /srv/www/example/current/public;
sample-files/nginx/sites-enabled/example.conf:12:        alias /srv/www/example/current/assets/;

$ grep -RInE '^[[:space:]]*location[[:space:]]' sample-files/nginx/conf.d sample-files/nginx/sites-enabled

sample-files/nginx/conf.d/admin.conf:5:    location / {
sample-files/nginx/sites-enabled/example.conf:11:    location /assets/ {
sample-files/nginx/sites-enabled/example.conf:14:    location /api/ {

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