Absolute Pathnames - Always start with a '/' - ( Note that it's a forward slash, not the backslash - windows uses the backslash, linux uses the forward slash ) - Always point to the same location, no matter what your current working directory is, ie, /root always points to /root, regardless of if you're in the /usr/local/bin directory, or the /lib directory, or anywhere else, "/root" refers to the same directory Relative Pathnames - *Never* starts with a '/' - Always dependant on your current working directory - Often times, relative pathnames make use of the '.' and '..' special files - If you're CWD is "/root", then a reference to a file named "cat" would look for the file in the "/root" directory, ( abs path: "/root/cat" ) ( Assuming /root is CWD ) "../alice" -> "/alice" "./../root/bob" -> "/root/bob" ( Assuming /usr/local is your CWD ) "bin/openssh" -> "/usr/local/bin/openssh" "../lib/openssl" -> "/usr/lib/openssl" "../../root/bob" -> "/root/bob" Special Files ( are in every directory ): "." : refers to the directory it's in. Ex: "/etc/." -> "/etc" and "/root/." -> "/root" "..": refers to the parent directory Ex: "/etc/.." -> "/" and "/usr/local/bin/.." -> "/usr/local" Trick question: What does "/.." refer to? Refers to "/" ( itself )