Question

What is an absolute pathname?

(a) pathname relative to a parent directory

(b) pathname relative to the root (/)

(c) pathname relative to parent and current directory

(d) pathname relative to the current directory

I got this question at a job interview.

My query is from Absolute and Relative Pathnames topic in division The File System of Unix

Answer 1

Correct option is (b) pathname relative to the root (/)

To elaborate: When a file’s pathname is determined with respect to the root(/), such a pathname is called absolute pathname. No two files in a UNIX system can have same absolute pathnames. Two files can be of same name but in different directories hence their pathname would be different from each other. For example, /bin/user06/dir_01  is an example of absolute pathname.