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Can we get this moved to Directory instead of Folder? Folder presents an unpleasantly Windows-centric view of things and imo isn't technically correct. -- ex-parrot ( talk) 01:35, 23 March 2010 (UTC)
Nevermind, this article is pretty broken. I'll fix it up properly later then move it. ex-parrot ( talk) 01:38, 23 March 2010 (UTC)
Question: Is there actually a maximum amount of data a 'folder' under a particular operating system can hold?
More information about directories (file systems) can be found in this old version of "directory". Specifically, information about folders appears to have been lost when the page was converted to disambiguation (I haven't been able to find those paragraphs back so far at least). Kim Bruning 13:49, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
"Thousands" seemed like a small number. Just counting files on my laptop alone, I found over 700K files, so updated to hundreds of thousands. --
Kim Bruning
16:37, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
The true statement, with citations, that "In computing, a directory and a folder are the same thing" is surrounded by a bunch of uncited and baseless verbiage about how they're supposedly different. -- Jibal ( talk) 10:38, 4 July 2018 (UTC)
i want to know about direcory structure in unix
I really would like to know who first coined the "folder" metaphor. Was it originally Apple ? Or did they get it from Xerox PARC ? Maybe it was Susan Kare who thought of it when drawing the first files... —Preceding unsigned comment added by XApple ( talk) 17:11, May 2, 2007 (UTC)
,
,
... um... no
<- remove new?
<- same here
I want to draw directory trees :-)
-- Kim Bruning ( talk) 23:39, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
Yes pages like these could benefit from quickly understood images. talk 22:06, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
Might this page be better titled as "Directory (computing)"? If I recall correctly, directory was the original name in the hierarchical system. Scienceman123 talk 05:58, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
Moved to "Directory (computing)". Scienceman123 talk 14:37, 9 August 2009 (UTC)
This article is all messed up. It sounds like it was written by someone who had no idea what they were talking about, and because directory was the original term, it should the title of the article.
And there is NO difference between the two, at least originally meant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Anikom15 ( talk • contribs) 17:56, 11 April 2010 (UTC)
Reference 3 contains a broken link apparently to an article titled "Everything Is a File in Unix". I'm not familiar with the referenced article, but I wonder if this is it: http://www.bga.org/~lessem/psyc5112/usail/concepts/filesystems/everything-is-a-file.html. Not a huge deal, but I thought I'd bring it up in case anyone knows of a replacement link. (Googling on "everything is a file in unix" brings up lots of hits -- even with the enclosing quotes to force an exact search -- so it's hard to know if the referenced article is out there.) Peytonbland ( talk) 21:42, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
All uses of the word folder have been changed to the correct term, which is directory. The only instances of folder that weren't changed were those where the term is relevant. Bigdumbdinosaur ( talk) 06:26, 30 July 2012 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: Move. Cúchullain t/ c 14:55, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
Folder (computing) → Directory (computing) – The consensus of opinion amongst the editors is that the page should be returned to Directory (computing) and that Folder (computing) should redirect to it. Directory is a file system concept, and folder is a graphical representation of that concept. Caleneledh ( talk) 12:35, 16 March 2013 (UTC)
*'''Support'''
or *'''Oppose'''
, then sign your comment with ~~~~
. Since
polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account
Wikipedia's policy on article titles.GetCurrentDirectory()
, getcwd()
, DirectoryInfo
, and so forth. —
Loadmaster (
talk)
05:46, 17 March 2013 (UTC)While it is true that Unix treats directories as files, this is not generally true in other operating systems. It used to be possible to open a directory in Unix using the standard open() call (and this was actually done at times by early Unix utilities); however, this was never possible on, for instance, MS-DOS or MS Windows. So while it may be true that most file systems arrange the storage blocks occupied by directories and files in a similar fashion, this does not mean that operating systems treat them the same. — Loadmaster ( talk) 16:50, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
I just read "Organization and Retrieval of Records Generated in a Large-Scale Engineering Project," which is cited by this Wikipedia page and refers to the file system that was used by the ERMA Mark I system in the late 1950s that processes bank checks. After reading the paper, I'm under the impression that this is not a digital file system that uses folders as a metaphor, but it's actually a physical filing system that uses physical Pendaflex and manila folders for storing paper records. The paper describes a hierarchical classification system for organizing various system records that is somewhat reminiscent of the classification systems used by libraries to organize books and other media. Thus, I believe that it is incorrect to state that this paper introduced the folder metaphor to digital file systems, since this paper describes a physical filing system. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmcthrow ( talk • contribs) 20:11, 9 October 2014 (UTC)
I've just removed this:
catalog
was used on the
Apple II, the
Commodore 128 and some other early home computers as a command for displaying disk contents; the filesystems used by these did not support hierarchal directories)There's no reference given to support any OS using 'catalogs' to refer to directories; and the rest is irrelevant. Snori ( talk) 18:19, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
like the number of your apartment is not your full address. A directory is a path to a folder. For example c:\AA\BB\ is a directory, but BB is simply a folder. This is a very common misconception. Even in the official Python documentation you can find: "for root, dirs, files in os.walk('python/Lib/email'):", and some programmers may think that directories ("dirs") contain full paths to folders, while they do not. So, the correct version should be: "for root, folders, files in os.walk('python/Lib/email'):". As a programmer, I deal with directories and folders all the time. How is it that my programs work? ;-) 85.193.252.19 ( talk) 11:38, 29 April 2021 (UTC)
Is the diagram in the Overview section correct - showing File2 in two directories? Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 05:03, 2 May 2021 (UTC)
I've asked about the etymology of the name "Directory" in computing terms on the Reference Desk, which has not had many answer apart from Lambian saying it was used in Multics in 1965. [1] Does anyone else has information on this. -- Salix alba ( talk): 20:01, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
The redirect
Inode/directory has been listed at
redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the
redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at
Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 March 10 § Inode/directory until a consensus is reached.
Onel5969
TT me
14:44, 10 March 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This ![]() It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Can we get this moved to Directory instead of Folder? Folder presents an unpleasantly Windows-centric view of things and imo isn't technically correct. -- ex-parrot ( talk) 01:35, 23 March 2010 (UTC)
Nevermind, this article is pretty broken. I'll fix it up properly later then move it. ex-parrot ( talk) 01:38, 23 March 2010 (UTC)
Question: Is there actually a maximum amount of data a 'folder' under a particular operating system can hold?
More information about directories (file systems) can be found in this old version of "directory". Specifically, information about folders appears to have been lost when the page was converted to disambiguation (I haven't been able to find those paragraphs back so far at least). Kim Bruning 13:49, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
"Thousands" seemed like a small number. Just counting files on my laptop alone, I found over 700K files, so updated to hundreds of thousands. --
Kim Bruning
16:37, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
The true statement, with citations, that "In computing, a directory and a folder are the same thing" is surrounded by a bunch of uncited and baseless verbiage about how they're supposedly different. -- Jibal ( talk) 10:38, 4 July 2018 (UTC)
i want to know about direcory structure in unix
I really would like to know who first coined the "folder" metaphor. Was it originally Apple ? Or did they get it from Xerox PARC ? Maybe it was Susan Kare who thought of it when drawing the first files... —Preceding unsigned comment added by XApple ( talk) 17:11, May 2, 2007 (UTC)
,
,
... um... no
<- remove new?
<- same here
I want to draw directory trees :-)
-- Kim Bruning ( talk) 23:39, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
Yes pages like these could benefit from quickly understood images. talk 22:06, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
Might this page be better titled as "Directory (computing)"? If I recall correctly, directory was the original name in the hierarchical system. Scienceman123 talk 05:58, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
Moved to "Directory (computing)". Scienceman123 talk 14:37, 9 August 2009 (UTC)
This article is all messed up. It sounds like it was written by someone who had no idea what they were talking about, and because directory was the original term, it should the title of the article.
And there is NO difference between the two, at least originally meant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Anikom15 ( talk • contribs) 17:56, 11 April 2010 (UTC)
Reference 3 contains a broken link apparently to an article titled "Everything Is a File in Unix". I'm not familiar with the referenced article, but I wonder if this is it: http://www.bga.org/~lessem/psyc5112/usail/concepts/filesystems/everything-is-a-file.html. Not a huge deal, but I thought I'd bring it up in case anyone knows of a replacement link. (Googling on "everything is a file in unix" brings up lots of hits -- even with the enclosing quotes to force an exact search -- so it's hard to know if the referenced article is out there.) Peytonbland ( talk) 21:42, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
All uses of the word folder have been changed to the correct term, which is directory. The only instances of folder that weren't changed were those where the term is relevant. Bigdumbdinosaur ( talk) 06:26, 30 July 2012 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: Move. Cúchullain t/ c 14:55, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
Folder (computing) → Directory (computing) – The consensus of opinion amongst the editors is that the page should be returned to Directory (computing) and that Folder (computing) should redirect to it. Directory is a file system concept, and folder is a graphical representation of that concept. Caleneledh ( talk) 12:35, 16 March 2013 (UTC)
*'''Support'''
or *'''Oppose'''
, then sign your comment with ~~~~
. Since
polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account
Wikipedia's policy on article titles.GetCurrentDirectory()
, getcwd()
, DirectoryInfo
, and so forth. —
Loadmaster (
talk)
05:46, 17 March 2013 (UTC)While it is true that Unix treats directories as files, this is not generally true in other operating systems. It used to be possible to open a directory in Unix using the standard open() call (and this was actually done at times by early Unix utilities); however, this was never possible on, for instance, MS-DOS or MS Windows. So while it may be true that most file systems arrange the storage blocks occupied by directories and files in a similar fashion, this does not mean that operating systems treat them the same. — Loadmaster ( talk) 16:50, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
I just read "Organization and Retrieval of Records Generated in a Large-Scale Engineering Project," which is cited by this Wikipedia page and refers to the file system that was used by the ERMA Mark I system in the late 1950s that processes bank checks. After reading the paper, I'm under the impression that this is not a digital file system that uses folders as a metaphor, but it's actually a physical filing system that uses physical Pendaflex and manila folders for storing paper records. The paper describes a hierarchical classification system for organizing various system records that is somewhat reminiscent of the classification systems used by libraries to organize books and other media. Thus, I believe that it is incorrect to state that this paper introduced the folder metaphor to digital file systems, since this paper describes a physical filing system. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmcthrow ( talk • contribs) 20:11, 9 October 2014 (UTC)
I've just removed this:
catalog
was used on the
Apple II, the
Commodore 128 and some other early home computers as a command for displaying disk contents; the filesystems used by these did not support hierarchal directories)There's no reference given to support any OS using 'catalogs' to refer to directories; and the rest is irrelevant. Snori ( talk) 18:19, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
like the number of your apartment is not your full address. A directory is a path to a folder. For example c:\AA\BB\ is a directory, but BB is simply a folder. This is a very common misconception. Even in the official Python documentation you can find: "for root, dirs, files in os.walk('python/Lib/email'):", and some programmers may think that directories ("dirs") contain full paths to folders, while they do not. So, the correct version should be: "for root, folders, files in os.walk('python/Lib/email'):". As a programmer, I deal with directories and folders all the time. How is it that my programs work? ;-) 85.193.252.19 ( talk) 11:38, 29 April 2021 (UTC)
Is the diagram in the Overview section correct - showing File2 in two directories? Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 05:03, 2 May 2021 (UTC)
I've asked about the etymology of the name "Directory" in computing terms on the Reference Desk, which has not had many answer apart from Lambian saying it was used in Multics in 1965. [1] Does anyone else has information on this. -- Salix alba ( talk): 20:01, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
The redirect
Inode/directory has been listed at
redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the
redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at
Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 March 10 § Inode/directory until a consensus is reached.
Onel5969
TT me
14:44, 10 March 2023 (UTC)