The Difference Between Relative and Absolute Filenames
Specifying the location of a file in a hierarchy to ensure that the filename is unique is known in UNIX parlance as specifying its absolute filename. That is, regardless of where you are within the file system, the absolute filename always specifies a particular file. By contrast, relative filenames are not unique descriptors.
To understand, consider the files shown in Figure 3.3.
Figure 3.3. A simple hierarchy of files.
If you are currently looking at the information in the Indiana directory, Bldgs uniquely describes one file: the Bldgs file in the Indiana directory. That same name, however, ...
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