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List:       sylpheed
Subject:    [sylpheed:27072] Re: question about a program message string
From:       Stefaan A Eeckels <Stefaan.Eeckels () ecc ! lu>
Date:       2006-01-28 11:33:59
Message-ID: 20060128123359.5921cf64.Stefaan.Eeckels () ecc ! lu
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On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 02:46:31 +0900
Hiroyuki Yamamoto <hiro-y@kcn.ne.jp> wrote:

> > Does this apply to a directory name or to a filename ? Or - a
> > filename can be assumed as a directory name (and viceversa) in
> > English language ?
> 
> Technically directory is a special file, so it is correct.

With (or without) your permission, I'll don my pedant hat.

This is correct for Unix type Operating Systems. In Windows, a directory
is not stored as a file, and there is no equivalent to the Unix "device
file" concept. The Unix "inode" concept is also not available in
Windows. 

<aside>
This is one of the problems writing code that works on Unix and
Windows. Under Unix, a file's "real" name is its inode number. The file
name is an entry in a directory file that points to the inode. The OS
deletes a file when the last link to it is removed, and the file isn't
open. An open file with no links is removed on close(). This makes it
easy to create temporary files that are guaranteed to be deleted; just
open() a file, then unlink() it. When the program terminates, Unix will
automatically delete the file from disk.

Under Windows, the file name _is_ the real file name, and hence one
cannot delete an open file, for example. 

Note that this is also one of the reasons why updating system files
(DLL, .so, running programs) on Unix is very easy, but requires lots of
fancy footwork on Windows. 
</aside>

> Filename may includes directory paths, too.

This is why "pathname" might be the better term to use here.

I'll range that pedant hat now. 

Take care,

-- 
Stefaan
-- 
As complexity rises, precise statements lose meaning,
and meaningful statements lose precision. -- Lotfi Zadeh 

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