Re: [Bulk] Object link name of . and ..

Y'all

These "directories" are also available on DOS systems - which ultimately were derived from Unix, IIRC, through things like the CP/M operating system - I think I heard that Kildahl reversed the slash from what Unix has.

So many "stories" about Gary Kildahl - one article says he came up with the concept of a BIOS - he focused on microcomputers.

If you go to a command prompt in windows and type "dir" you will likely see these at the top of the list there, as well.

Vern

On 11/4/2014 8:12 AM, Mark S Waterbury wrote:

Paul:

By convention, all Unix systems have always created a "." and ".." symbolic link in each directory, to allow for "short-cut" path names when using a relative path (relative to the "current" cdirectory). Since the IFS was ported from AIX, it also follows this convention, at least as far as the IFS directories are concerned.

The "," points to the current directory itself (the one it is in), and the ".." always points to the "parent" directory ... If you are in a directory named:

/home/Paul

the ".." will take you to the "/home" directory.

This can get confusing, for example, if you are using WRKLNK, and using option 5 to "drill down" on "." as it will (recursively) just keep going and going ...

Hope that helps,

Mark S. Waterbury

> On 11/4/2014 9:06 AM, Paul Fenstermacher wrote:

On one of my systems I have an object link that is named simply . (that's a DOT), and another that is named .. (that's a DOT DOT). When I put a 5 on them my directory path at the top changes to /. or /.. Google isn't helping, any idea what these are and how they might have gotten there?

Paul Fenstermacher | Sys Admin, Sr | Corporate Systems - POWER Systems
Administration | Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.
663 West Highway 60 | Monett, MO 65708 | 417-235-4114 x177389 |
pfenstermacher@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:pfenstermacher@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>


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