# How to Serve Static Files using NGINX in 3 Simple Steps? 💡

[NGINX](https://www.nginx.com/) has been the most popular web server for many years now, and it is used by a large number of websites and businesses around the world. NGINX is a very powerful tool and can be used to accomplish a lot of different tasks. 

This blog will be about one of those various functions, and it will be about hosting static files on a server using NGINX.

## Step 1: Editing the NGINX Config File

First of all, we'll have to edit the NGINX config file to add the directory, which will serve static content. Open the NGINX config file using the command:

```
sudo vi /etc/nginx/nginx.conf   # OR /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
```

## Step 2: Updating the Location Block 

Once you have opened the file using the `vi` editor, create a new `location` block in the `server` block.

```
server {
   server_name <>;
   location / {
     ...
   }

   location /files/ {
      root /var/www;
   }
}

```

In the above code snippet, we have added a new location block for the `/files` path and updated the `root` directive to point at `/var/www`. Now let's create an empty directory named `/files` on the above location.

> **Note**: As we use the `root` directive in the `location` block, NGINX will add the `route` name to all paths. For example, if you request any file, NGINX will look it in the `/var/www/files` directory.

```
cd /var/www && mkdir files
```

Change the directory and create any file for testing purposes.

```bash
cd files
sudo touch hello.txt  # Add some random text too
```

## Step 3: Restart the NGINX

Restart the NGINX server using the following command:

```bash
sudo service nginx restart
```

Test the NGINX configuration using `sudo nginx -t` to make sure there are no errors in the file.

## Accessing the Static Files 🚀

To access the files, you can simply visit the server URL with the route that is mentioned in the location block (`/files`)

```bash
curl <<Server_URL>>/files/<<file_name>>
```

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Thank you for reading! 💯