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In this Itechguide, Victor answers the question “What is a directory?”. To explain the concept, Victor starts with the general definition of a directory.
What is a Directory?
In general, a directory is a structure for organizing information in a tree to make it easy to access the information. Directories are usually organized in tree or hierarchical structure.
A good example is a telephone directory – these are listings of telephone subscribers’ names and addresses organized by geographical location. This information is structured to make it easy to locate the information you need – in this instance, a person’s telephone number, name, and address.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsIn the remaining part of this Itechguide, I will explain directories in relation to the web, general computing, Windows and Linux.
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What is a Directory in Computing
In computing, a directory is a hierarchical tree structure used in computer file systems to organize files and folders. “Hierarchical tree” means that a directory may contain other directories. It may also contain files.
A directory inside another directory is called a subdirectory. The top directory is called the parent directory while the subdirectory is called the child directory. In a directory structure, the topmost directory that is not within another directory is called a root directory.
In computing, most operating systems, use the backslash “\” or forward-slash “/” to link a parent directory to its child directories.
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What is a Web Directory?
In relation to the web, a directory is a listing of websites organized by categories and subcategories. Such directories include a list of websites and links to such websites.
What is a Directory in Windows?
In the Windows operating system, a directory is a collection of files and folders organized in a hierarchical tree.
As explained in the general computing section, in Windows, the top-level directory is called the parent while all directories within the top directory are called child directories. The parent-child hierarchical structure is called a tree.
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Most Windows users generally use folders to refer to directories. If you use Windows, you may have created a folder before. If you create a folder and then, created another folder within that folder, the top-level folder is the parent folder. All folders within the top-level folder are called child folders.
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A folder can also contain files. A file cannot contain other files or folders. An example of a file is a notepad.
Windows operating systems also have root directories. A root directory is a directory that is not within another directory. On a Windows operating system, the Local Drive (C:) is root directory. All folders within it are sub-directories.
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What is a Directory in Linux?
In Linux, a directory is a special file that contains a list of files, directories, and links (called objects). A directory also keeps the corresponding inodes for each of the objects stored in it.
Like in Windows operating system, a Linux directory uses a hierarchical structure to organize other directories and files. A directory hierarchy is called a directory tree.
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To list the directories and files in your current directory, use the ls command
ls
If you want to create a new directory in the current directory, type the mkdir command followed by the name of the directory. To create a new directory, NewDir in the current directory, use the command below.
mkdir NewDir
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