File Mounting and Paths

A path to a file or directory is a sequence of directories separated by a / symbol (in UNIX/Linux/Mac) or a \ symbol (in Windows) that tells where the files resides inside a file system.

An absolute path is one that starts with the root directory "/" (in UNIX/Linux/Mac) or "C:\" (in Windows). Examples: "/home/seth/Pictures/penguin.jpg" or "C:\Users\Staff\Music".

A relative path is one that starts with the current directory, usually with the symbols . (current directory) or .. (parent directory). Examples: "../CISC3320/diagram.jpg" (access diagram.jpg, which reside in the 'sibiling' directory to the current one) or "../.././" (access the 'grandparent' directory ("../../") and stay there ("./")).

There exist infinitely many absolute and relative paths to any directory or file. Here is how: if the name of some directory inside the path is, say, Music, you can add infinitely many of the following 'back and forth' subsequences into the path: "Music/../Music/ ... /../Music/" 😁. However, each file's shortest absolute path is one and unique.