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> Please don't just rant about it, but explain, or link to an explanation, the difference so others can see if there's actually a substantial difference. Fairl

> Please don't just rant about it, but explain, or link to an explanation, the difference so others can see if there's actually a substantial difference. Fairly easy to look up and I just did , https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5078676/what-is-the-difference-between-a-directory-and-a-folder https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5078676/what-is-the-diff... but I agree , comments like this come across as smug and unhelpful. A few short lines explaining and a link would have been much helpful and greatly improves the quality of discussion on this site.

avgcorrection 3y ago
The top answer > > 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). So there really is no difference in a technical (programmers talking) context. :)
- boffinAudio 3y ago
  There is no difference between a directory and a folder except the term used to refer to the special kind of file that can hold links to other files. :) Bonus points if you can find any kind of modern user that knows the difference between a FILE and a FOLDER (directory) ..
- crazygringo 3y ago
  Yeah, 99.9% of the time they are interchangeable. There are exceptions where a GUI folder doesn't have a corresponding directory (e.g. "Control Panel") or when a directory doesn't appear as a GUI folder (a mounted volume, maybe?). But if you're just talking about regular everyday use cases for organizing files, folders are directories and directories are folders. In those cases, there's zero reason to distinguish the two, no matter whether you happen to be using a GUI or terminal at the moment.
  - assimpleaspossi 3y ago
    And yet you listed several reasons why folders are not directories and vice-versa. No computer system, from the command line, has a command that allows you to "make_folder" but every system has a "make_directory" (mkdir) or "change_directory" (cd) and so on. If there is little to no difference, then why is this so? Why are there no folders from the command line?
    - dag11 3y ago
      > No computer system, from the command line, has a command that allows you to "make_folder" but every system has a "make_directory" (mkdir) or "change_directory" (cd) and so on. If there is little to no difference, then why is this so? But doesn't that prove the concept that they're the same thing? If they were different things, surely there would be a different command for creating a folder and versus creating a directory. But there's just one command, and nobody is going to make a command called `mkdirakafol` ("make directory a.k.a. folder"). Sometimes multiple names can mean the same thing. Like, a "trunk" and a "boot" can refer to the same thing. So what you just said is like "my car has an Open Trunk button, not an Open Boot button, so surely those are different concepts." I've fallen for xkcd 386...
    - crazygringo 3y ago
      > And yet you listed several reasons why folders are not directories and vice-versa. No I didn't. I listed the exceptions where they are not the same thing. The fact that they're exceptions implies the existence of a rule, which is that they're usually the same. Generally speaking, every Mac and Windows system I use, when I create a directory, I see a folder created in the GUI. And when I create a folder in the GUI, I see a directory created in the terminal. So pretty sure that, aside from rare exceptions, they're identical and synonymous. So as long as you're not dealing with an exceptional situation, the terminology is literally interchangeable. > Why are there no folders from the command line? For historical terminology reasons, mostly. By the time GUI's introduced a new terminology, all the terminal commands had long since been named. I really don't understand what overall point you're trying to make. But if you create a directory in the terminal that shows up in the GUI as a folder, it's 100% perfectly correct to say you created a folder in the terminal. Because you did.

avgcorrection 3y ago

The top answer > > 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). So there really is no difference in a technical (programmers talking) context. :)

boffinAudio 3y ago
There is no difference between a directory and a folder except the term used to refer to the special kind of file that can hold links to other files. :) Bonus points if you can find any kind of modern user that knows the difference between a FILE and a FOLDER (directory) ..
crazygringo 3y ago
Yeah, 99.9% of the time they are interchangeable. There are exceptions where a GUI folder doesn't have a corresponding directory (e.g. "Control Panel") or when a directory doesn't appear as a GUI folder (a mounted volume, maybe?). But if you're just talking about regular everyday use cases for organizing files, folders are directories and directories are folders. In those cases, there's zero reason to distinguish the two, no matter whether you happen to be using a GUI or terminal at the moment.
- assimpleaspossi 3y ago
  And yet you listed several reasons why folders are not directories and vice-versa. No computer system, from the command line, has a command that allows you to "make_folder" but every system has a "make_directory" (mkdir) or "change_directory" (cd) and so on. If there is little to no difference, then why is this so? Why are there no folders from the command line?
  - dag11 3y ago
    > No computer system, from the command line, has a command that allows you to "make_folder" but every system has a "make_directory" (mkdir) or "change_directory" (cd) and so on. If there is little to no difference, then why is this so? But doesn't that prove the concept that they're the same thing? If they were different things, surely there would be a different command for creating a folder and versus creating a directory. But there's just one command, and nobody is going to make a command called `mkdirakafol` ("make directory a.k.a. folder"). Sometimes multiple names can mean the same thing. Like, a "trunk" and a "boot" can refer to the same thing. So what you just said is like "my car has an Open Trunk button, not an Open Boot button, so surely those are different concepts." I've fallen for xkcd 386...
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    > And yet you listed several reasons why folders are not directories and vice-versa. No I didn't. I listed the exceptions where they are not the same thing. The fact that they're exceptions implies the existence of a rule, which is that they're usually the same. Generally speaking, every Mac and Windows system I use, when I create a directory, I see a folder created in the GUI. And when I create a folder in the GUI, I see a directory created in the terminal. So pretty sure that, aside from rare exceptions, they're identical and synonymous. So as long as you're not dealing with an exceptional situation, the terminology is literally interchangeable. > Why are there no folders from the command line? For historical terminology reasons, mostly. By the time GUI's introduced a new terminology, all the terminal commands had long since been named. I really don't understand what overall point you're trying to make. But if you create a directory in the terminal that shows up in the GUI as a folder, it's 100% perfectly correct to say you created a folder in the terminal. Because you did.