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<h4 class="subsection">11.2.1 Directories</h4>

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

   <p><a name="index-directory-904"></a><a name="index-link-905"></a><a name="index-directory-entry-906"></a>A <dfn>directory</dfn> is a file that contains information to associate other
files with names; these associations are called <dfn>links</dfn> or
<dfn>directory entries</dfn>.  Sometimes, people speak of &ldquo;files in a
directory&rdquo;, but in reality, a directory only contains pointers to
files, not the files themselves.

   <p><a name="index-file-name-component-907"></a>The name of a file contained in a directory entry is called a <dfn>file
name component</dfn>.  In general, a file name consists of a sequence of one
or more such components, separated by the slash character (&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">/</span></samp>&rsquo;).  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.

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

   <p>You can find more detailed information about operations on directories
in <a href="File-System-Interface.html#File-System-Interface">File System Interface</a>.

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