Here is an example of an absolute pathname:

\WORDPROC\PERSONAL

The backslash at the beginning of this pathname tells MS-DOS to start its journey at the root directory, proceed down the directory tree to WORDPROC, then continue down the tree to PERSONAL.

Here is an example of a relative pathname:

SALES

Because this pathname does not begin with a backslash, MS-DOS assumes that the starting point of the path is the current default directory. This pathname thus tells MS-DOS to find a directory named SALES subordinate to the current default directory. Note that if the directory structure of your disk matched the one in the examples above, you would have to be logged onto the SPRDSHT directory in order for this pathname to be valid.

Relative pathnames can tell MS-DOS to move upward in the directory tree as well as downward. The symbol . . (two periods) in a pathname tells MS-DOS to move upward one level in the tree. Thus, if the default directory were WORDPROC (in the foregoing example), the pathname . . \DOS would tell MS-DOS to move up one level from WORDPROC (in this case to the root directory) and then find a subdirectory called DOS.

You can use either relative or absolute pathnames at any time. It doesn’t matter which you use, provided the pathname leads to an existing directory.

Including Filenames With Pathnames

You typically use a pathname when you want to access a file that is not stored in the current default directory. The name of the file you want to access is specified at the end of the pathname, like this:

TYPE\WORDPROC\PERSONAL\JEANl204.DOC

Using MS-DOS with Your Equity 386 5-13