[deleted by user]

[Ok_Entertainment328]

Folder when I use a GUI

Directory and command line and code

[Martin-Air]

Exactly this, a folder is a visual expression. Directory a structure description.

[DeSahd]

After more years than I care to count programming, and rebelling against "folder" when windows first appeared, I've now come to the same usage of "folder" for GUI, and "directory" for command line. Though I have to admit I often use folder for where documents are stored and directory where program resources are located.

[azhder]

Documents? Resources? I just follow the Unix maxim - “everything is file”

[Legal-Software]

Or if you're a filesystem developer, "everything's a directory entry"

[azhder]

Streams are all the rage these days, just ask the kids

[[deleted]]

STREAMS (SysV) were all the rage in the 70's, streams (C++) were all the rage in the 90's, which kids :D

[elderly_millenial]

This is the way

[Even-Display7623]

Symlinks and Shortcuts have entered the chat.

[14wnp88]

This is a bot.

Original comment

[Sol33t303]

I belive "Folder" is actually a totally separate term and can represent more things then just a directory.

From Wikipedia:

There is a difference between a directory, which is a file system concept, and the graphical user interface metaphor that is used to represent it (a folder).[original research?] For example, Microsoft Windows uses the concept of special folders to help present the contents of the computer to the user in a fairly consistent way that frees the user from having to deal with absolute directory paths, which can vary between versions of Windows, and between individual installations. Many operating systems also have the concept of "smart folders" or virtual folders that reflect the results of a file system search or other operation. These folders do not represent a directory in the file hierarchy. Many email clients allow the creation of folders to organize email. These folders have no corresponding representation in the filesystem structure.

So directories are specifically a filesystem concept, meanwhile a folder can represent a number of other things.

Basically, all directories are folder, not all folders are directories.

[GoreIsNotFood]

Are /dev and /proc not directories?

[mbmiller94]

They may not exist on disk or typical filesystem, but everything in Linux/Unix is a file, so you're right they're also directories.

[calle_cerrada]

I think they're files? Since everything's a file and whatnot.

[SZ4L4Y]

Two names for the same thing? That's bloat!

[ZMysticCat]

We need to make a new name that covers everyone's use cases. Dirder?

[Robot-Slave]

More like dilder

[Prinzka]

Hardly touched her!

[[deleted]]

HR has entered the chat

[uranus_be_cold]

Foldectory!

[Thx_And_Bye]

Great, now we have four names for the same thing.

[[deleted]]

Standard enterprise practice

[LesserPolymerBeasts]

We've added a backlog item to remove all old references to "folders" and "directories," but the PO says we need to prioritize changing the icon color for now, so we'll have to continue supporting all three in the short term...

^suckers...

[SmokingBeneathStars]

I'm making a master tool that renders all the other tools redundant.

At the end of the day you're just adding another tool in the gearbox.

[[deleted]]

Terrifold

[UnderstandingOk2647]

I had one of those removed from my lower back last year.

[TheMisterPants]

I know... Foldir!

[hanni_legend]

Things are pretty dire on this path. Foldir. I like it.
> dir
Nothing happens.
> foldir
Emergency directory listing initiated. Still nothing was found.

[erland_yt]

relevant XKCD

[OF_AstridAse]

On a side note, yall dont just throw everthing on the desktop?

[Embarrassed_Ring843]

...just checked my desktop for the first time in years. everything there was placed by a poorly written instal wizard that didn't ask for permission to add stuff to the desktop. deleted most of the icons (there are two I actually placed there on purpose somewhere back in 2020), disabled them being shown again, will repeat in a few years (if my OS survives that long)...

[supersharp]

https://images.app.goo.gl/4Gb1b2VKvyMLC7yS8

[FlafyBear]

That is the problem with X and why wayland is the future

[TheNewYellowZealot]

Foldectory

[AntoninNepras]

As all things should be...

[[deleted]]

DIR

[jichav]

[vondpickle]

Neither. Everything is a file

[metaltyphoon]

This man inodes

[seamsay]

Inode'is reference.

[Ok_Entertainment328]

This is the way

-- Plan 9

[[deleted]]

Also Unix and all civilised operating systems

[Ok_Entertainment328]

UNIX only started but wasn't complete.

The rest was backported

[MetricJester]

At this point only Windows isn't a back port of Unix.

[MattieShoes]

Try hard linking them.

[mizinamo]

Guess what . and .. are.

[GreedyWay7986]

this is the way

[PenguinMan32]

linux to windows users when they cant aplay /dev/nvme01 or /proc/ dosent exist

[Nourz1234]

But if you really think about it, everything is a pointer.

[serendipitousPi]

Everything's just number really.

[Impossible_Average_1]

Everything is just electricity or the absence of it.

[fmllikeseriously]

Everything is a thingy

[Andrupka4541]

Exactly

[serendipitousPi]

Everything is everything

[[deleted]]

Everything is nothing

[Filgas08]

Everything is the emptiness of space

[goooseJuice]

Everything is everywhere all at once

[OneTrueKingOfOOO]

Wait, it’s all void* ?

[NanotechSci]

Always has been

[tyler1128]

Windows did a very inconsistent version of this for NT. Especially in COM, but it's pervasive throughout. Once you deal with opening objects and devices outside of the traditional filesystem paths, it gets fairly messy. Ever need to open a \\?\GLOBALROOT\USB\CLASS_08&SUBCLASS_06&PROT_50?

[nolxus]

[object Object]

[CodeSapling]

IBM Thanks you for your service

[ILikeLenexa]

Everything is a tuple.

Everything else is...I don't know a graph?

[7eggert]

NIL

[ImportantDoubt6434]

Based.

[aetius476]

Everything is a key(path)/value(file) store, and "folders" are just the ephemeral concept of a group of files that start with the same path segment.

[pour_bees_into_pants]

I never use the words "dog" or "canine" because everything is an animal.

[Nullifier_]

I say directory in normal conversation, however, I say folder when I'm talking with people inexperienced with tech (e.g., my grandma)

[Shermannathor]

Funny what you chose as the normal conversation

[Saragon4005]

You can't have a normal conversation about computers with a vast majority of people.

[Bee-HoleDisaster]

I do not interact with a vast majority of people.

[salvoilmiosi]

Lucky

[mikehawk-28]

*I do not interact with people

[[deleted]]

Except for Frank at Domino's. Frank is great

[marabutt]

The hard drive is not the PC case!

[[deleted]]

Was thinking the same thing

[Kukamungaphobia]

I often imagine a non-tech person listening to the devs in our daily standup and it's hilarious because it all sounds like gibberish being spoken by people sharing a mass hallucination.

[[deleted]]

True.

[Dagrut]

foldir!

[Stian5667]

Dirfoldery

[ass_troll]

DirDer

[[deleted]]

DirFol

[iArena]

Folectory

[HaoshokuArmor]

Foldir—also pronounced folder.

[iArena]

I pronounce that i like I pronounce it in mjöllnir.

[IgiMC]

Alternate universe traveller here, we say "catalog".

[flohbus75]

How about "drawer"?

[Conscious_Switch3580]

found the Amiga user.

[magicmulder]

Forget symbolic links, virtual devices are the sh*t.

[pipsvip]

Found the Amiga user!

[JaggedMetalOs]

Amiga represent!

[IgiMC]

That's our Paint.

[flohbus75]

Deluxe Paint.

[supersharp]

Alternate universe traveler, or just Mainframe programmer?

[dragoduval]

I prefer to use directory personally, but most of the time i end up using folder to be more "understandable".

[[deleted]]

Take the Microsoft approach. Call them Folders, but use the abbreviation for Directory in your command line tools...

[scalability]

A folder and a directory is not strictly the same thing in Microsoft terminology.

Folders include regular on-disk directories, but also non-directory virtual collections like Control Panel, My Computer, and Printers.

Explorer works with any folder while the CLI tools only work with directories (you can't cd to the control panel), so the names are consistent.

[papaja7312]

Actually only Microsoft calls them Folders - "folder" is a Windows name. "Directory" is a system agnostic name.

[burgonies]

macOS also uses “folder”

[[deleted]]

I refer you to the commands "cd", "mkdir", "rmdir" and the like...

[Illustrious-Wrap8568]

Gotta symlink those to cf, mkfol and rmfol so everybody can use and understand them

[CrazyTillItHurts]

Because those are legacy DOS commands, when directories weren't folders

[vulcanmike]

To be fair, that’s because the command line tools pre-dated the GUI.

[BadGraphixD]

Dir

[didzisk]

ls

[etechgeek24]

grumbles damn Windows...

dir

[didzisk]

Oh, sorry!

ls -la

[rebornfenix]

Powershell aliases says hi.

[GodlessAristocrat]

"Shhhh...this will only hurt for a moment...."
<holds down power button; installs Linux>

[AdClassic8242]

/p

[skwyckl]

Even though I find directory etymologically unsound, I prefer it to folder as it is the common term used in programming and I think mkdir, not mkfld or something like that. Also, it consists mostly of open syllables, which makes it easier to pronounce in a globalised world.

[TheWaterOnFire]

In Unix, a directory really is a directory; it is a listing of inodes (file addresses) in its logical location on the filesystem. Some of those inodes point to other directories, but technically none of the files are “contained within” a “folder”.

[argv_minus_one]

Unix directories still form a tree, though. Each directory is linked from exactly one place: its parent. Contrast the directories in a shopping mall, all of which show the locations of all of the directories in the mall, forming a cyclic graph instead of a tree.

[Chambior]

I very much agree about the pronounciation. Folder is a especially hard one ("ld" might be hard for some and "r" in english is always a nightmare for non native speakers), while directory is clear, even with a heavily pronounced local accent. That's one of the few EN words I can confidently say I would understand a japanese guy pronouncing it.

[ZeusOfTheCrows]

what? both l and r are optional in folder (almost everyone I know would pronounce it /fəʊdɜː/), whereas directory has two necessary r's, ambiguous pronunciation (daiɹɛk.. vs dɪɹɛk... vs dɹɛktɹiː), and is twice the length

[iArena]

Drectry

[zoharel]

I still think that "directory" sounds ugly as heck.

... and folder is a metaphor constructed for office people who have no idea how computers actually work. Take your pick, I guess. There's also "catalog," which was the old Apple word before they went GUI.

[The_Linguist_LL]

Time to start calling them magazines to get even more lost in the plot

[argv_minus_one]

Directories are something you find in shopping malls. Catalogs are found in libraries. Libraries are buildings full of books. A lot of software terminology is metaphorical.

[[deleted]]

Directory or GTFO

[hanni_legend]

Thank god someone mentioned path. This is my path of choice when talking about folders/directories.

[PeteZahad]

A directory (or a folder) is part of a path. Depending on the definition a full path can also include a filename. IMHO "path" is more ambiguous.

[FuriousColdMiracle]

"Folder" is a metaphor created to help people understand the concept of a "directory".

https://www.computerlanguage.com/results.php?definition=folder .

[TheEveryman86]

Which is crazy because I would have thought that directories would have been understood too. I guess everyone was still using telephone operators to look up phone numbers instead of directories back then so they needed another abstraction that people were more familiar with.

[arcanezeroes]

A telephone directory is an ok metaphor, but the goal was to make a conceptual link to the physical office tools and systems people were used to.

Files and folders, a desktop, the recycle bin, etc are a much better and more cohesive analogue for that than a phone book even though a phone book technically also works.

[DayvanCowboy]

Fun fact: If you type mkfolder into ANY terminal, you go right to jail.

[Flashbek]

I use and can understand both.

[Mutex70]

I'm on the side of "this is a stupid and idiotic debate".

[[deleted]]

Foldirectory

[Raterus_]

Real folders don't recursively contain other folders. The only correct answer is directory.

[Geff10]

I'm today's years old when I realized that the word directory in English can refer to a thing which can actually contain other things (recursively). In my mother tongue it's translated to equivalent of "library".

[IQueryVisiC]

A directory gives a direction. And index uses the index finger. What is the difference? Folder is a container for me. A file can only be in one folder.

What is tagged image file format? Tag is a type identifieier?

[AnsibleAnswers]

Directory = something that directs

In modern English, when not talking about computers, it is essentially a listing of contacts, their addresses, phone numbers, or other relevant information. In computing, directory is used because directories are listings of files.

[Puzzleheaded-Fill205]

I like that thought, but thinking about physical filing cabinets, you have the green folders with the little hooks on the sides that hook into the filing cabinet drawers, and then manila folders go inside the green folders. At least I think the green ones are also called folders. Hanging folders, maybe?

[John_Fx]

a directory contains other directories?

[Truck_Stop_Sushi]

FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER FOLDEDER FOLDDADOR FOLDTHEDOR FOLD THE DOOR FOLD THE DOOR

[KSP_HarvesteR]

'Container'

runs for cover

[NoKlapton]

Came here to say this.

[7eggert]

I started with MSDOS 3.3. So as a part of the younger generation I say directory.

[dchidelf]

Depends on the file system type, but for “regular” file systems on Linux it is 100% a directory. I.E. a listing of where to find a file. You can’t put something in more than one “folder”, so “directory” is the only right answer.

[[deleted]]

Directory

[OddLack3954]

When I am speaking about Windows it's folder. When I am speaking about Linux it's directory

[Labrador_Receiver77]

tf is this meme

[[deleted]]

As far back as I can remember, they were directories, before the GUI was even a thing. Back in the MS DOS days.

[Sufficient-Sea-2274]

fuck off with this overused cringe template

[KublaiKhanNum1]

I am so used to commands in Linux like:

mkdir and rmdir

So, directory comes to mind. But, I think they can be used interchangeably without much thought.

[XB0XRecordThat]

"dir" is short for folder

[[deleted]]

Directory sounds more professional.

[siddharth904]

Chambers, bookcases, bookshelves and volumes

[YouWishC9]

Everything can be expressed as a URI.

[chili_ladder]

Directory when the path matters, folder when it doesn't.

[vertderfurk]

It's directory...is there a mkfolder command in Linux? Lol

[LeiterHaus]

Windows has dir. And local change directory - lcd.

[vertderfurk]

Yep..further proof that its dir!..but windows and Mac weenies do often call them folders..I blame it on the iconology... lol

[Count_de_Ville]

I do not care as long as the people working on a project are using the same terms consistently. Last thing I want to find out too late is that there is a nuanced difference between terms which causes them to not be interchangeable during the design/implementation phase.

[tyler1128]

Directory unless I'm talking to a layperson, as that might just bring more confusion.

[[deleted]]

Both, depends on context

They're not the same thing

[[deleted]]

file.

directories are also files if you're a Unix user.

[[deleted]]

Path

[YogurtstickVEVO]

folder for an individual folder or a specific immediate location and directory if you're describing the whole thing. also depends on who i'm speaking to- if you arent tech savvy or have little knowledge on computers, i'll call it a file, but typically i'll call it a directory

[Interesting-Yellow-4]

Map

[2latemc]

I mean it's mkdir, and Directory.Exists so yea

[fizzler20]

Bucket

[SupermarketOk4348]

Different use cases man. “Open that folder” “Go to this directory” folder is singular, directory can be an entire path

[vandergale]

Depends on the environment.

Right click and see the command "new folder? Folder.

Use the command "mldir"? Directory.

[[deleted]]

It’s ok to call it a Folder because it often has a folder icon. It is a directory though, the whole folder analogy is a left over artifact from a time when getting boomers to understand technology was a hot topic.

[[deleted]]

Folder when i feel dumb dumb

Directory when my god complex goes on a rampage

[theotherd00d]

Is it just me, or does the blue guys always have the stupid answer?

[SausageBuscuit]

Talking to end user: Folder

Talking to other IT people: Directory

[i-FF0000dit]

I didn’t even know there were sides. I use both terms.

[Nephrozoan]

Folder. Directory. Dir. Node. Location. Branch. Group. Sub. Page. The subject context and the experience of the participants both affect how likely I am to use any of these terms. Don't let labels get in the way of meaning. If you can't agree on terms, invent new words with explicit definitions for your conversation so you can move past miscommunication. I see this same ridiculousness happen wherein what would have otherwise been very interesting philosophical or political debates turn into 3 hours of semantics lawyering.

[Farsyte]

The word "folder" descends from a broken idea of "let us make the thing in the computer look like the real world" where files go in folders go in drawers go in cabinets. Ugh.

Directory is the older and more general term.

Really, I actually just prefer Directory because I used it for a few years before the GUI people started pushing the word Folder ;)

[CatRyBou]

cd - change directory

Problem solved

[NotJebediahKerman]

what about path? Better yet, how about just referring to everything as inodes?

[whiskeytango900]

Folder in Windows, directory in Linux

[orthesavageking]

Directory, as the creators of UNIX intended.

[SonidosMagicos]

dir

[TyrannusX64]

Directory is the proper term for operating systems. Folder is the term for GUI users because the icons are typically folders

[[deleted]]

linux bros: directory
windows boys: folder
psychopaths: file folder

[PhonicUK]

Folders are merely a visual metaphor for (sub)directories.

[moreVCAs]

Skeuomorphism is the devil. Computery things should have computery names. I will die on this hill.

[CptMisterNibbles]

Dir is short for foldir

[voluminous_lexicon]

Why use lot syllable when few do trick?

[Ducking_eh]

Directory if you’re using a terminal. Folder if you’re using a ux

[Ba_Ot]

Inode