Understanding Pathnames in File Systems

In the context of a file system, a `pathname` is a string that represents the full path of a file or directory, including its directory structure. It is essentially a sequence of directories and files separated by forward slashes (`/`).

For example, if you have a file named `example.txt` located in the `/home/user/Documents` directory, the pathname for that file would be `/home/user/Documents/example.txt`.

The term `pathname` is used to distinguish it from other parts of a file system path, such as the `directory name` (the name of the directory that contains the file) and the `file name` (the name of the file itself).

In programming languages, the concept of a pathname is often used to manipulate files and directories, such as reading or writing files, creating or deleting directories, and so on.