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Absolute vs Relative Paths

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Terminal journey. Lesson 7 of 82.

When navigating the filesystem, you can refer to a location in two ways: using an absolute path or a relative path.

Absolute Path: starts from the root of the filesystem (/). It always points to the same location no matter where you currently are:

cd /home/documents

An absolute path always begins with /.

Relative Path: starts from your current directory. It depends on where you are right now:

cd documents

If you are currently in /home, this will take you to /home/documents.

Comparing the two:

  • If you are in /home and want to go to /home/documents:
    Absolute: cd /home/documents
    Relative: cd documents
  • If you are in /home/documents and want to go up one level:
    Absolute: cd /home
    Relative: cd ..

Special relative path symbols:

  • .. Refers to your current directory
  • ... Refers to the parent directory (one level up)
cd ./documents   # same as: cd documents
cd ..            # go up one level
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Challenge

Beginner

Navigate to the documents folder using a relative path, then print your current location using pwd.

Try it yourself

Terminal
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This lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.

All lessons in Fundamentals

1Introduction

What Is The TerminalYour First CommandComments

4Directories

Create A DirectoryCopy A DirectoryMove And Rename A DirectoryDelete A DirectoryRecap - Directory Operations

7File Content

Head And TailWord CountSort CommandUnique CommandGrep BasicsGrep With FlagsRecap - Text Detective

10Log Analyzer Project

Project OverviewViewing The Log FileProject lessonFiltering ErrorsProject lessonCounting OccurrencesProject lessonGenerating A ReportProject lesson

13Shell Scripting Basics

What Is A Shell ScriptCreate And Run A ScriptVariables In ScriptsUser Input In ScriptsIf StatementFor LoopWhile LoopRecap - Number Guesser

2Navigation

Print Working DirectoryList FilesChange DirectoryAbsolute vs Relative PathsHome And Root DirectoryRecap - Find Your Way

5Organize Photos Project

Project OverviewCreating The StructureProject lessonMoving The FilesProject lessonCleaning UpProject lesson

8Redirection

Standard OutputOverwrite To A FileAppend To A FileStandard InputStandard ErrorRecap - Log Builder

11Permissions

Understanding PermissionsReading PermissionsChmod With NumbersChmod With SymbolsFile OwnershipRecap - Lock It Down

14Backup Script Project

Project OverviewGetting The Source PathProject lessonCreating Backup FolderProject lessonCopying The FilesProject lessonAdding A TimestampProject lessonSuccess MessageProject lesson

3Files

Create A FileRead A FileCopy A FileMove And Rename A FileDelete A FileRecap - File Operations

6Wildcards And Patterns

The Star WildcardThe Question Mark WildcardBracket WildcardsCombining WildcardsRecap - Selective Operations

9Piping

What Is A PipeChaining Two CommandsChaining Multiple CommandsPipe With GrepRecap - Data Pipeline

12Environment

Environment VariablesView All VariablesThe PATH VariableSetting A VariableExport A VariableThe Profile FileRecap - Custom Environment

15Final Challenges

File Organizer By TypeWord Frequency CounterSystem Health Checker

Practice on your own: Terminal playground