What are the elements of a file name?

Answer 1

By "file name", I assume you mean a path on a computer.

At it's basic, a file name is composed of the name, and usually an extension. E.g. "Hello.txt". This files name is "Hello", and it's extension is ".txt". The extension helps the operating system know what to open it with. For example, on a Windows OS, the ".txt" extension (by default) makes Notepad open the file. If you made a file and gave it a random extension, such as ".foobarfile1", the computer doesn't know what to open it with. This will normally bring up a dialog requesting which program should be used to open the file.

A Path is very similar to a file name, but it includes the drive and directory tree. For example, a file called "Hello.txt" in My Documents would look like "C:\Users\\Documents\Hello.txt". This method of showing file names is called "absolute". It is an unambiguous location. In the above path, "C:" is the drive name, then each word between "" marks is a directory. So to navigate to the file in Windows Explorer, you would open up My Computer, open C:\, the directory Users etc.

There are also relative path, such as "..\Hello.txt". This navigates from the current directory to the "parent" directory (the directory containing the one you are currently in) and accesses "Hello.txt" within that. This type of path is more complex, but has the advantage that you don't need to know the drive name and nearby directories to navigate to your files. I don't think relative paths have much use outside of developing programmes that read files though.

I hope this has answered your question, but to conclude, a file name contains the Name of the file (which makes it unique) and it's extension (which determines which program opens it). Finally, a path is a longer string, declaring exactly where the file is, or where it is relative to the current directory.

Again, I hope this helps,

Hnefatl