Relative and Absolute paths

A path is a string that specifies the location of a file or folder in a file system . There are two types of paths: relative and absolute.

Relative path

 A relative path is a path that is relative to the current working directory of the program or the user. It describes the location of a file or folder without starting from the root of the file system.  

For example, if the current working directory is “D:\python programs”, then the relative path of “Book.txt” in the same folder is just “Book.txt”. Similarly, the relative path of “Chapter1.txt” in a subfolder named “Chapters” is “Chapters\Chapter1.txt”.

A relative path can use “…” to refer to the parent folder of the current working directory. For example, if the current working directory is “D:\python programs\Chapters”, then the relative path of “Book.txt” in the parent folder is "…\Book.txt".

Absolute path

An absolute path is a path that starts from the root of the file system . It describes the location of a file or folder regardless of the current working directory of the program or the user.

For example, the absolute path of “Book.txt” in “D:\python programs” is “D:\python programs\Book.txt”. Similarly, the absolute path of “Chapter1.txt” in a subfolder named “Chapters” is “D:\python programs\Chapters\Chapter1.txt”. 

An absolute path always starts with a drive letter (such as “C:”, “D:”, etc.) followed by a colon and a backslash.