text:
Directory (computing)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Screenshot of a Windows / MS-DOS command prompt window showing a directory listing.
In computing, a directory is a file system cataloging structure which contains references to other computer files, and possibly other directories. On many computers, directories are known as folders, or drawers[1] to provide some relevancy to a workbench or the traditional office file cabinet.
Files are organized by storing related files in the same directory. In a hierarchical filesystem (that is, one in which files and directories are organized in a manner that resembles a tree), a directory contained inside another directory is called a subdirectory. The terms parent and child are often used to describe the relationship between a subdirectory and the directory in which it is cataloged, the latter being the parent. The top-most directory in such a filesystem, which does not have a parent of its own, is called the root directory.
Contents
[hide]
1 Overview
1.1 Folder metaphor
2 Lookup cache
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
Overview[edit]
Diagram of a hierarchical directory tree. The root directory is here called 'MFD', for Master File Directory.
Historically, and even on some modern embedded systems, the file systems either had no support for directories at all or only had a "flat" directory structure, meaning subdirectories were not supported; there were only a group of top-level directories each containing files. In modern systems, a directory can contain a mix of files and subdirectories.
A reference to a location in a directory system is called a path.
In many operating systems, programs have an associated working directory in which they execute. Typically, file names accessed by the program are assumed to reside within this directory if the file names are not specified with an explicit directory name.
Some operating systems restrict a user's access to only their home directory or project directory, thus isolating their activities from all other users. In early versions of Unix the root directory was the home directory of the root user, but modern Unix usually uses another directory such as /root for this purpose.
In keeping with Unix philosophy, Unix systems treat directories as a type of file.[2]
Folder metaphor[edit]
Sample folder icon (from KDE).
The name folder, presenting an analogy to the file folder used in offices, and used in a hierarchical file system design for the Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting (ERMA) Mark 1 published in 1958[3] as well as by Xerox Star,[4] is used in almost all modern operating systems' desktop environments. Folders are often depicted with icons which visually resemble physical file folders.
There is a difference between a directory, which is a file system concept, and the graphical user interface metaphor that is used to represent it (a folder). For example, Microsoft Windows uses the concept of special folders to help present the contents of the computer to the user in a fairly consistent way that frees the user from having to deal with absolute directory paths, which can vary between versions of Windows, and between individual installations. Many operating systems also have the concept of "smart folders" that reflect the results of a file system search or other operation. These folders do not represent a directory in the file hierarchy. Many email clients allow the creation of folders to organize email. These folders have no corresponding representation in the filesystem structure.
If one is referring to a container of documents, the term folder is more appropriate. The term directory refers to the way a structured list of document files and folders is stored on the computer. The distinction can be due to the way a directory is accessed; on Unix systems, /usr/bin/ is usually referred to as a directory when viewed in a command line console, but if accessed through a graphical file manager, users may sometimes call it a folder.
Lookup cache[edit]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2013)
Operating systems that support hierarchical filesystems (practically all modern ones) implement a form of caching to RAM of recent path lookups. In the Unix world, this is usually called Directory Name Lookup Cache (DNLC), although it is called dcache on Linux.[5]
For local filesystems, DNLC entries normally expire only under pressure from other more recent entries. For network file systems a coherence mechanism is necessary to ensure that entries have not been invalidated by other clients.[5]
See also[edit]
Concepts
Directory structure
Filename
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
Home directory
Root directory
Virtual folder
Working directory
Commands
cd (command)
chroot
dir (command)
mkdir
pushd and popd
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Chapter 1: Tutorial". Using The AMIGA Workbench. Commodore-Amiga. July 1991. p. 46. The path specifies the disk name, or location, and all of the drawers that lead to the specified file.
Jump up ^ [1] Archived March 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ Barnard III, G. A.; Fein, L. (1958). "Organization and Retrieval of Records Generated in a Large-Scale Engineering Project". Proceedings of the Eastern Joint Computer Conference: 59–63. doi:10.1109/AFIPS.1958.75.
Jump up ^ ""Xerox Star User Interface (1982)"". YouTube. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b "Close-To-Open Cache Consistency in the Linux NFS Client". Citi.umich.edu. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Folders (computing).
Definition of directory by The Linux Information Project (LINFO)

[hide]
v
t
e
Computer files
Types
Binary file / Text file
File format
List of file formats
File signatures
Magic number
Metafile
Sidecar file
Sparse file
Swap file
System file
Temporary file
Zero-byte file
Properties
Filename
8.3 filename
Long filename
Filename mangling
Filename extension
List of filename extensions
File attribute
Extended file attributes
File size
Hidden file / Hidden directory
Organisation
Directory/Folder
NTFS junction point
Temporary folder
Directory structure
File sequence
File system
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
Path
Operations
Open
Close
Read
Write
Linking
Alias
File descriptor
Hard link
Shadow
Shortcut
Symbolic link
Management
File comparison
File compression
File manager
Comparison of file managers
File system permissions
File transfer
File sharing
File verification
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Directory_(computing)&oldid=802677272"
Categories:
Computer file systems
File system directories
File system management
Hidden categories:
Webarchive template wayback links
Articles needing additional references from November 2014
All articles needing additional references
Articles to be expanded from December 2013
All articles to be expanded
Articles using small message boxes
Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
العربية
Azərbaycanca
বাংলা
Беларуская
Català
Čeština
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Français
한국어
हिन्दी
Bahasa Indonesia
Íslenska
Italiano
עברית
Kurdî
Lumbaart
Magyar
Македонски
Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Олык марий
Polski
Português
Русский
Shqip
Simple English
Slovenčina
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
தமிழ்
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 27 September 2017, at 18:56.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

value: img

attrs: alt src width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

attrs: href class

value: td

attrs: href title

value: b

attrs: class href

values: Help:Introduction to referencing with Wiki Markup/1

value: span

value: i

value: small

value: tr

values: plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values:
/wiki/File_cabinet
mw-redirect
File cabinet

values:
/wiki/Computer_user
mw-redirect
Computer user

attrs: alt src width height class data-file-width data-file-height

values: Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting

values:
/wiki/Computer_icon
mw-redirect
Computer icon

values:
/wiki/Special_Folders
mw-redirect
Special Folders

values:
/wiki/Command_line
mw-redirect
Command line

values: plainlinks metadata ambox mbox-small-left ambox-content

values:
/wiki/Distributed_file_system
mw-redirect
Distributed file system

values: width: 33%;text-align: left; vertical-align: top;

values: border-collapse: collapse; padding: 0; border: 0; background:transparent; width:100%;

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1109%2FAFIPS.1958.75

values:
reflist mw-references-wrap
list-style-type: decimal;

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.linfo.org/directory.html

values:
/wiki/File_operation
mw-redirect
File operation

values:
/wiki/File_compression
mw-redirect
File compression

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Category:Webarchive template wayback links

values: Category:Articles needing additional references from November 2014

values: Category:All articles needing additional references

values: Category:Articles to be expanded from December 2013

values: Category:Articles using small message boxes

values: Category:Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Directory_(computing)
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values: مجلد (الحوسبة) – Arabic

values:
https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qovluq
Qovluq – Azerbaijani
az
az
interlanguage-link-target

values: ডিরেক্টরি (কম্পিউটিং) – Bangla

values: Каталог (файлавая сістэма) – Belarusian

values:
https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directori
Directori – Catalan
ca
ca
interlanguage-link-target

values: Κατάλογος (υπολογιστές) – Greek

values:
https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosierujo
Dosierujo – Esperanto
eo
eo
interlanguage-link-target

values: دایرکتوری (رایانه) – Persian

values: फोल्डर – Hindi

values:
https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direktori
Direktori – Indonesian
id
id
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory
Directory – Italian
it
it
interlanguage-link-target

values: תיקיית קבצים – Hebrew

values:
https://ku.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peldank
Peldank – Kurdish
ku
ku
interlanguage-link-target

values: Папка (информатика) – Macedonian

values:
https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direktori
Direktori – Malay
ms
ms
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory
Directory – Dutch
nl
nl
interlanguage-link-target

values: Каталог (файловая система) – Russian

values:
https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kartoteka
Kartoteka – Albanian
sq
sq
interlanguage-link-target

values: Директоријум – Serbian

values: அடைவு (கணினியியல்) – Tamil

values: โฟลเดอร์ – Thai

values: Каталог (файлова система) – Ukrainian

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Directory_computing rootpage-Directory_computing skin-vector action-view