file-system.md

File system

Table of contents

• What is a file system
• File
  • File name
  • Extension
  • Location
  • File path
    • <file-path> placeholder
• Directory
  • Directory path
    • <directory-path> placeholder
  • Subdirectory
• Path
  • <path> placeholder
  • Absolute path
  • Relative path
• Special paths
  • Root directory (/)
  • Home directory (~)
  • Current directory (.)
  • Parent directory (..)
  • Desktop directory

What is a file system

A file system is the method an operating system uses to organize and store data on a storage device.

It defines how files are named, stored, and retrieved.

Docs:

• File system (Wikipedia)

File

A file is a named collection of data stored on the file system. Files contain data such as text, code, images, or other content.

File name

The file name identifies the file within its directory.

Example: for the file wiki/file-system.md, the file name is file-system.md.

Extension

The extension is the suffix after the last . in the file name. It indicates the file type or format.

Example: README.md has the extension .md.

Location

The location of a file is its containing directory.

Example: for the file /home/user/project/README.md, the location is /home/user/project/.

File path

The path of a file.

<file-path> placeholder

The file path (without < and >).

Examples:

• ../README.md (relative path)
• ~/.ssh/config (absolute path)

Directory

A directory (a.k.a. "folder" on Windows) is a special type of file that contains other files and directories.

Directories nest inside one another, forming a tree structure rooted at the root directory.

Directory path

The path of a directory.

Examples:

• ../wiki (relative path)
• ~/.ssh (absolute path)

<directory-path> placeholder

The directory path (without < and >).

Subdirectory

A subdirectory is a directory contained within another directory.

Example: for the path wiki/images/, images/ is a subdirectory of wiki/.

Path

A path points to a location in the filesystem.

<path> placeholder

The path of a file or a directory (without < and >).

Absolute path

Starts from the root directory or the home directory.

Examples:

1. /home/inno-se-toolkit/Desktop/ (Linux / macOS)
2. C:/Users/inno-se-toolkit/Desktop/ (Windows)

Relative path

Starts from the current directory.

Examples:

• backend/app/
• ./docs/

Special paths

• Root directory (/)
• Home directory (~)
• Current directory (.)
• Parent directory (..)
• Desktop directory

Root directory (/)

The root directory is the top-level directory of the file system. All other files and directories are contained within it.

Its absolute path is /.

Home directory (~)

Shortcut for the absolute path for the user home directory /home/<user>/.

See <user>.

Current directory (.)

The relative path for the directory you are currently in.

Examples:

• For the directory wiki/, the current directory path is wiki/..

Parent directory (..)

The relative path for the parent directory of the directory. The parent is always a directory.

Examples:

• For the directory wiki/images/, the parent directory path is wiki/images/.. which is wiki/.

Desktop directory

The Desktop directory is the folder that corresponds to the desktop on your screen.

Windows: C:/Users/<user>/Desktop/ (see <user>) Linux: ~/Desktop/ (see home directory (~)) macOS: ~/Desktop/ WSL: ~/Desktop/