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Absolute vs. Relative Paths
We've mostly been dealing with relative filepaths which are paths that take your current directory into account. For example, let's say we have the following directory structure in our filesystem:
vehicles
├── cars
│ ├── fords
│ │ ├── mustang.txt
│ │ └── focus.txt
When inside the top-level vehicles directory, the relative path to the mustang.txt file is:
cars/fords/mustang.txt
However, when we're inside the cars directory, the relative path to the mustang.txt file is just:
fords/mustang.txt
Or when inside the fords directory, just:
mustang.txt
Absolute Paths
An absolute path is a path that starts at the root of the filesystem. On Unix-like systems (macOS/Linux), the root is denoted by a forward slash /. So, if the vehicles directory is in the filesystem root, the absolute path to the mustang.txt file is:
/vehicles/cars/fords/mustang.txt
So, when inside the fords directory, you can use either:
/vehicles/cars/fords/mustang.txt
or
mustang.txt
to refer to the same file.
Which Should I Use?
It depends.
Relative paths are easier to read and write, and as long as you're in the correct directory (or the directory you expect), they're easier to reason about.
Absolute paths are more explicit. They're useful when you're not sure what directory you're currently in. For example, maybe you're giving someone instructions on how to find a file on their computer. You can't be sure what directory they'll be in when they start following your instructions, so you'll need to use an absolute path.