findmnt — List Mount Points

findmnt shows what is mounted where by reading the system mount tables. Use it to confirm whether /mnt/backups is actually mounted (and from which device), to map a path like /var/www/html to its mount point, and to validate mount options before you troubleshoot disk space or performance issues on a WordPress VPS.

Quick Summary

Use findmnt -T /var/www/html to see the filesystem and source device that backs your WordPress path. Use findmnt -S UUID=... to locate where a specific disk is mounted.

Mental Model

Prerequisites

findmnt is provided by the util-linux package and is installed by default on most Linux servers.

Verify it exists:

verify-findmnt-installed.sh

which findmnt
findmnt --version

Core Syntax

findmnt-syntax.sh

findmnt [OPTIONS]
findmnt -T <path>
findmnt -S <source>

• -T targets a path (directory or file) and finds the mount that contains it.
• -S targets a source (device name, UUID=..., LABEL=...) and finds where it is mounted.

Key Options

Option	What it does	Example	WordPress / VPS use case
-T <path>	Find mount for a path	findmnt -T /var/www/html	Confirm WordPress is on / or a separate volume
-S <source>	Find mount for a source	findmnt -S /dev/sdb1	Confirm where a disk is mounted
-S UUID=...	Match by UUID	findmnt -S UUID=6666-...	Stable lookup independent of /dev/sdX names
-o <cols>	Select output columns	findmnt -o TARGET,SOURCE,FSTYPE,OPTIONS	Cleaner runbook output
-n	No headings	findmnt -n -T /var/www/html	Script-friendly output
-r	Raw output	findmnt -r -T /var/www/html	Avoid truncation/tree formatting
-D / --df	df-like output	findmnt -D -T /var/www/html	Quick capacity-style view
-J	JSON output	findmnt -J -T /var/www/html	Programmatic parsing

Examples (Commands + Expected Output)

Output varies

Mount points and device names are examples. Your VPS may use vda or NVMe devices.

List all mounts (tree view)

findmnt-list-all.sh

findmnt

Expected output:

example-output-findmnt-list-all.txt

TARGET        SOURCE     FSTYPE OPTIONS
/             /dev/sda1  ext4   rw,relatime
|-/dev/shm    tmpfs      tmpfs  rw,nosuid,nodev
`-/mnt/backups /dev/sdb1 ext4   rw,relatime

Use case: See the full mount layout.

Find which mount backs the WordPress root

findmnt-wordpress-path.sh

findmnt -T /var/www/html

Expected output:

example-output-findmnt-wordpress.txt

TARGET SOURCE     FSTYPE OPTIONS
/      /dev/sda1  ext4   rw,relatime

Use case: Confirm where WordPress data lives before resizing or cleanup.

Verify a backup mount is present

findmnt-backup-mount.sh

findmnt -T /mnt/backups

Expected output:

example-output-findmnt-backups.txt

TARGET       SOURCE     FSTYPE OPTIONS
/mnt/backups /dev/sdb1  ext4   rw,relatime

Use case: Catch "backup ran to local disk because the mount wasn't mounted" incidents.

Find where a device is mounted

findmnt-by-source-device.sh

findmnt -S /dev/sdb1

Expected output:

example-output-findmnt-by-source.txt

TARGET       SOURCE     FSTYPE OPTIONS
/mnt/backups /dev/sdb1  ext4   rw,relatime

Use case: Identify mountpoint for a disk you plan to unmount.

Find by UUID (stable lookup)

findmnt-by-uuid.sh

findmnt -S UUID=66666666-7777-8888-9999-000000000000

Expected output:

example-output-findmnt-by-uuid.txt

TARGET       SOURCE     FSTYPE OPTIONS
/mnt/backups /dev/sdb1  ext4   rw,relatime

Use case: Troubleshoot fstab mounts using UUIDs.

Print only key columns for incident notes

findmnt-custom-columns.sh

findmnt -T /var/www/html -o TARGET,SOURCE,FSTYPE,OPTIONS

Expected output:

example-output-findmnt-columns.txt

TARGET SOURCE     FSTYPE OPTIONS
/      /dev/sda1  ext4   rw,relatime

Use case: Copy/paste a clean mount summary into a ticket.

df-like view for a path

findmnt-df-like.sh

findmnt -D -T /var/www/html

Expected output:

example-output-findmnt-df-like.txt

SOURCE    FSTYPE SIZE USED AVAIL USE% TARGET
/dev/sda1 ext4    50G  10G   40G  20% /

Use case: Quick capacity view without switching tools.

WordPress VPS Use Cases

Situation	What you want to confirm	Command	Why it helps
Disk is filling up	Which mount backs WordPress	findmnt -T /var/www/html	Ensures you're looking at the right filesystem
Backups look too small	Whether backup mount was present	findmnt -T /mnt/backups	Detects missing mounts
Mount option tuning	Current mount options	findmnt -T / -o OPTIONS	Verifies noatime, discard, etc.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
findmnt -T /mnt/backups shows nothing	Not mounted	Mount it (see mount) or fix /etc/fstab
Mount exists but source is unexpected	Wrong device mounted	Unmount and mount the correct device (carefully)
Output is truncated	Terminal width	Add -r (raw) or select fewer columns with -o

Best Practices

• Use findmnt -T PATH as the "truth" when you're unsure which filesystem contains a directory.
• Pair findmnt with lsblk -p -f and blkid when you are building or debugging mounts.

Cheat Sheet

findmnt-cheat-sheet.sh

findmnt
findmnt -T /var/www/html
findmnt -T /mnt/backups
findmnt -S /dev/sdb1
findmnt -S UUID=<uuid>
findmnt -D -T /var/www/html
findmnt -T / -o TARGET,SOURCE,FSTYPE,OPTIONS

What's Next

• lsblk — List Block Devices
• blkid — Show Device UUID and Labels
• mount — Mount a Filesystem
• umount — Unmount a Filesystem