Ordinary Files:  These are normal files which contain data, text and executables. In Unix, everything is stored as a file.

Directories :  It stores normal and special type of files. It list the locations of other files, some   of which includes other directories. This is similar to folders in Windows.

Special Files:  Special files denotes physical devices such as tape drives, printers, terminals or          tape drives. There are two types of special files exist.

1. Character device : It is a driveror control program for a piece of hardware that transmits             data, such as a modem.
2. Block device : It’s a driver or control program for a piece of hardware that allows to access storage devices.  Block device represents major and minor numbers. Same type of  device shares same major number, where as the later one is unique for each device.

Pipe : Pipe(|) used to link one command to another. It provides one-way flow of data and very helpful in manipulating output.

Socket :  A Unix socket is a special file which allows advanced inter-process communication within or across servers. A Unix Socket is used in a client-server application framework.

Symbolic Links:  A UNIX link that points to another file or folder in the file system. This is similar to a Windows shortcut. There are two forms,

1. Soft links: These are similar to shortcuts, and can point to another file or directory in any file system.
2. Hard links : These are also shortcuts for files and folders, but a hard link cannot be created for a folder or file in a different file system.