paths

Root Directory

The "root" directory is first directory on the computer that contains all other directories / folders. The root directory is represented by a "/".

Absolute directory

The "absolute" directory is the full path or list of directories from the root.

relative directory

The "relative" directory is path to a folder from your current working directory.

working directory

Your working directory is your current location inside the computer. Think of it as you have a virtual body inside the computer and this is the folder you are standing inside. You use the "cd" (change directory) command to change what folder you are standing inside.

In the example above you are standing inside the "ocean" folder. That is your current working directory. To find your current working directory you use the "pwd" command, which means Print Working Directory:

pwd

If you want to use an absolute path to change into the clam directory you would type this:

cd /home/philip/ocean/clam

Even though you are "standing" inside the ocean folder, the absolute path lists every directory from the root folder represented by first "/".

If you want to use a relative path to change into the clam directory your would type this:

cd clam

You are "standing" inside the ocean directory and the clam directory is only one level deeper, so you can just type "clam" to change to that directory.

To go up one directory to the philip directory you would type this:

cd ../

The "../" means to jump up one directory relative to where you are currently located, which would put you in the "philip" directory.

To change to the banana slug directory using a relative path you would type this:

cd ../mountain/banana_slug

The absolute path to get to the same place would be:

cd /home/philip/mountain/banana_slug

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