Absolute and Relative Paths

An absolute path contains every step of the path, from the top of the filesystem (/) to the bottom (Reports).

user@hostname ~ $ cd /home/user/Documents
user@hostname ~/Documents $ pwd
/home/user/Documents

A command that always prints an absolute path is pwd

pwd
/
└── home
  └── user
  └── Documents
  └── Reports

But this path is long and tedious to type, that's why the relative path exists.

user@hostname ~/Documents $ cd Reports
user@hostname ~/Documents/Reports $ pwd
/home/user/Documents/Reports

Special Relative Paths

The Linux shell has ways to make changing directories even easier. These are the current and parent directory.

To see these directories, we use the ls -a command to reveal all files on the current directory, even the hidden ones.

user@hostname ~/Documents/Reports $ ls -a
.
..
report2018.txt

here the two special relative paths are relealed:

.
Indicates the current location (in this case, Reports).
..
Indicates the parent directory (in this case, Documents)