What is an Absolute Pathname vs a Relative Pathname

Question

Like the title says, what is the difference between an absolute and relative pathname? I\'m taking a Computer Organization class right now, and the lecture I\'m in is a crash co

Answer 1

You are correct in your assumption.

the relative path is the path minus the output from pwd.

the absolute path always starts from the root "/" directory.

example:

if you have just logged in you are in your home directory - /home/user - and have a file text.txt in your home directory.

the relative path is text.txt

the absolute path is /home/user/text.txt

Answer 2

• An absolute path starts with the character /.
• A relative path does not.

The literal wording from the POSIX standard:

[A relative path is] A pathname not beginning with a <slash> character.

[An absolute path is] A pathname beginning with a single or more than two <slash> characters.

Answer 3

A relative path is a path relative to some working directory (the directly you are currently at, for example).

In that sense, a relative path can be interpreted as a series of instructions telling you how to reach the target from your working directory.

An absolute path is a path relative to some root directory (C:\ on windows for example or / on UNIX-like systems).

So you are correct.