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I'm new to Python, and currently using the os module. I came across a doubt.

Can anyone explain me, what is the difference between the following lines?

os.mkdir('dir_name') os.mkdir('/dir_name')

The former creates the folder in the current directory but what about the later? There's no folder created in the current directory, where is it created then?

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    The first is a relative, the second an absolute path. A relative path is interpreted relative to the current working directory your process is in, an absolute path is interpreted from the systems file system root node (/). Commented Sep 17, 2018 at 13:54
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    The 2nd is an absolute path and will be created in the FS root ("/", or directly on the drive returned as part of by os.getcwd()). Commented Sep 17, 2018 at 13:56
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    The second creates the folder in the root directory ('/'). This usually requires root privileges. Commented Sep 17, 2018 at 13:58

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os.mkdir('dir_name') # relative

The first path is relative. The first code line will make a directory "dir_name" in the current working directory. It is relative because the path will change relative to the working directory.

os.mkdir('/dir_name') # absolute

This second path is absolute. "/" refers the the operating system's root directory. The second code snippet will make a "dir_name" directory in the root directory. The path is absolute because unlike the "current working directory", the root directory will never change.

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Consider os.mkdir('../dir_name') for full picture. It is also a relative, but uses .. to denote upper level folder, relative to current one.

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