Absolute File Path

• / (Root)
• /Work/report.doc
• /Work/Project

Working Directory

• It's basically the directory or folder that we're currently working from.
• Once we've established a working directory, then we can use what's called a relative file path to get to a file that we're

Relative File Path

• At Project folder, try to get to talk.ppt => ./talk.ppt (The ./ signifies look in the current folder for this file.)
• At Work folder, try to get to talk.ppt => ./Project/talk.ppt

Going upward in the directory tree

• At Project folder, try to get to report.doc => ../report.doc (We're inside this project folder, we're coming out of it to the parent folder, which is the work folder, and then we're getting hold of this file.)

• At main.py, try to get to report.doc => ./report.doc ⇒ report.doc

#Absolute
with open("/Users/andchang/Desktop/my_file.txt") as file:
contents = file.read()
print(contents)

#Relative
with open("../../Desktop/my_file.txt") as file:
contents = file.read()
print(contents)

• The absolute file path is always relative to the root of your computer. On Windows that's the C drive, usually anyways unless you've changed it. And on a Mac, it is the Macintosh HD.
• Now the relative file path is relative to your current working directory. So it depends on where you are and where you're trying to get to.