Path difference between ../ and ./

Could anyone explain the difference between ../ and ./ please.

../system
./system

My understanding is that ../ is the root directory.

But I don't know what ./means.


Solution 1:

./ means the current directory

../ means the parent of the current directory, not the root directory

/ is the root directory

myfile.text is in the current directory, as is ./myfile.text

../myfile.text is one level above you and /myfile.text lives in your root directory.

Solution 2:

. Current Directoy

.. Parent Directory

./system means, a directory/file called system in the current directory.

Solution 3:

The . and .. are relative directories to your current location.

The . is the current directory. eg "this". The .. is the previous directory. eg "this.parent".

Solution 4:

  • . is the current directory
  • .. is the parent directory of the current directory

... which means:

  • ./system is the subdirectory or file called "system" of the current directory
  • ../system is the subdirectory or file called "system" of the parent directory, which makes it a sibling of the current directory.