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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 “files in a |
| directory”, 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 (‘<samp><span class="samp">/</span></samp>’). 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 “path” is |
| something completely different (a list of directories to search), and we |
| think that “pathname” used for something else will confuse users. We |
| always use “file name” and “file name component” (or sometimes just |
| “component”, 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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