Ubuntu: Up and Running

Absolute and Relative Paths

Although you may not realize it, you already have learned the difference between an absolute pathname and a relative one. But if you haven’t come across these terms before, let me explain them to you, as they are very important when using the command line.

An absolute path is fixed, such as /home/robin/Documents, and works the same way regardless of your working directory, whereas a relative path leaves out one or more parent folder names, either substituting them with the .. shortcut or referencing files and folders within the current one.

A path that uses parent folders without naming them might look like ../Videos, or on a deeply nested folder something like ../../../Documents. Each time the .. is encountered, Ubuntu knows to go back up a level. A / is then required afterward if there is more in the path. If not, a relative path such as ../../.. is quite valid—it takes you to the folder three levels up.

The other type of relative path is where only files and folders within the current folder are referenced, such as Documents/Reports or Vacation/Cancun/Photos. In fact, although it would be pointless, a relative path such as Vacation/Cancun/../Barbados is perfectly valid because it actually represents the path Vacation/Barbados, unnecessarily visiting the Cancun folder on the way.

All you have to remember is that what differentiates a relative from an absolute path is the existence of a / at the front. Without an initial forward slash, a path is relative ...