GNU Info

(libc.info)Directories

---

Next: File Name Resolution Up: File Names

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

Directories
-----------

   In order to understand the syntax of file names, you need to
understand how the file system is organized into a hierarchy of
directories.

   A "directory" is a file that contains information to associate other
files with names; these associations are called "links" or "directory
entries".  Sometimes, people speak of "files in a directory", but in
reality, a directory only contains pointers to files, not the files
themselves.

   The name of a file contained in a directory entry is called a "file
name component".  In general, a file name consists of a sequence of one
or more such components, separated by the slash character (`/').  A
file name which is just one component names a file with respect to its
directory.  A file name with multiple components names a directory, and
then a file in that directory, and so on.

   Some other documents, such as the POSIX standard, use the term
"pathname" for what we call a file name, and either "filename" or
"pathname component" for what this manual calls a file name component.
We don't use this terminology because a "path" is something completely
different (a list of directories to search), and we think that
"pathname" used for something else will confuse users.  We always use
"file name" and "file name component" (or sometimes just "component",
where the context is obvious) in GNU documentation.  Some macros use
the POSIX terminology in their names, such as `PATH_MAX'.  These macros
are defined by the POSIX standard, so we cannot change their names.

   You can find more detailed information about operations on
directories in Note: File System Interface.