Been using Linux as my primary OS for (counts on fingers)… decades now. Called them folders the whole time. Never had a problem with it. Nobody who matters cares.
Until now, i care a ton!
Oh wait, “Nobody who matters”
dang, nevermindExactly, thank you. My thought when seeing this was “who the fuck cares?”
I care.
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In parlance I have found you can say ‘what directory is that folder in?’ If you want to have a user give you a full path.
I typically call them folders when going through the GUI and directories when using CLI.
I never realized I subconsciously did this until your pointing it out. Huh. Thanks for that insight I suppose, haha
well it sorta just makes sense, the gui presents it as a folder, you can move things around in it like a folder, conceptually it presents them in a way to make you think they are physical things stored in a physical folder/box. cli it really just feels like you are using a string of characters indicating the desired file, it feels more like a directory that way, even if it always really is that way, just showcased differently in the gui.
brain doing brainy things, strings/lines vs pictures/labels
Exactly my thoughts.
This is a fact.
To move a folder (gui), you just do it. To move a directory (cli) you have to implicitly say you want the contents too.
Big Brother approves
meh. folder is 2 syllables, directory is like 4. I’m lazy. If someone gave me a clear one syllable alternative that others would know what I meant (even if while cringing), i’d probably start using that instead. I’ve tried just “dir”, but no one ever knows wtf i’m saying.
Yep, while this meme is funny and in jest. If someone actually seriously gave me shit for saying “folder” or “directory” I would have to ask them what Stallman’s toe nails actually taste like. Because that is up there with his level of being rigid about something that I just can’t stand.
I do agree, but I do double check how I wrote and what I wrote when replying on GitHub 😁.
I just use “dir” about 90% of the time.
I like how you put things.
While conversing with Linux users, they should know what dir means… I mean, even if they don’t use the terminal that often, dir is often used in GUIs as well in Linux.
I might should clarify that when using “dir” verbally no one knows what I’m saying, but maybe how I pronounce it in my head isn’t how everyone else does, lol. In text it’s plenty clear, imo.
Oh, yeah, in that case it does make sense 😁.
The real hard Linux nerds will just call them files
Everything. Is. A. File.
You just put in my head an idea for the most boring “real or cake” spin-off imaginable
WELL ACKSHUALLY
I only call them by inode. Scoffs
inodes can be files or directories though.
I just learned what an inode is last week so I’m doing my best here.
“Everything is a file.”
No one cares
As long as you don’t call it a path.
Always have, and always will! /waves old man cane around in a threatening manner
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Isn’t that what a hierarchical string of them are called?
Idk about hierarchy but
PATHis a thing and the proper terminology is filepath, so the word path becomes ambiguated as it could be used to refer to either. Hence why I say it is bad practice to use it as a primary reference in conversation. Otherwise you’ll get interns and users modifying theirPATHfor no damn reason and wondering why nothing works.
Well dir
So what’s the difference?
My intuition is that
directoryis the older term and refers to something existing on the file system whilefoldercan be that but also includes “virtual folders” that group together different files from across the file system like when photo manager shows you categories like ‘recently viewed’ or ‘taken in 2023’.None.
Directory is the older term, but when they started making computers user friendly they needed a friendlier word for it. Folders make sense because people understand putting files in folders in real life.
Aha, to me it’s an apt metaphors as files go into folders and it fits with the whole desktop analogy.
Exactly, except like all computer metaphors they break down when you get into the details. I can’t put a document in more than one folder and update them at the same time IRL like I can do with a symlink.
You bring up a pretty good point. Whenever I have a personal document that could go into multiple categories (eg a travel insurance certificate can go into travel, insurance, or finance folder) I place it in all 3 at once with hard links. What’s more is that if I intuitively first search for a document in place A but it’s actually in place B I simply place a link in A for the next time.
Before I learned a bit about file systems I didn’t even conceive of such a thing being possible; precisely because the folder metaphor had imprinted upon me the physical world constraint that things can only be in a single place at once.
Uhhh directories are files where other files are stored in a computer, folders are pieces of paper used to store pieces of paper (or a file used to store another files in a computer)
folders are only considered files in linux, in windows, its a mess
something about not unix operating systems not being valid
obligatory mansplaining that Linux is not Unix
obligatory its a Unix system, I know this
A directory outside of computing is simply a list of items with a common characteristic. A list of names at an apartment building for example.
And on a CLI a directory is just a list of other files.
everything in my home directory is a folder, everything outside of that is a directory
And interestingly enough the home directory itself falls outside of itself
Utterly mind-shattering revelation
Me when I don’t say inodes to refer to folders in iOS:
da fuck?
Dumb joke, iKnow
- iFolder
- Air Directory
I’m referring to folders as iFolders from now on
- Air Directory
That actually sounds like a great name for a cloud service, lol
Ew, inodes is pretty cringe. :(
alias cf=cdNote: I don’t actually do this. I’m not a monster.
Cloud foundry? Not familiar with cf
Given that
cdis “change directory,” I assumecfis meant to be “change folder.”Yes and it’s telling the computer to treat cf as if it was cd
It’s interesting that Windows also uses cd, even though they call them folders 😂.
Meh, I dont care. If they used a word that wasn’t directly linked to the concept then I might care.
Likewise, we all know what it means, regardless if you say it like this or that.
I mix and match. I used to have an Amiga back in the day, and they were called directories there. As such, most of my parlance is from those days. But most of my work life has been on Windows. So, folder has sneaked into everyday usage.
