directory
)(1) An organizational unit, or container, used to organize folders and files into a hierarchical structure. Directories contain bookkeeping information about files that are, figuratively speaking, beneath them in the hierarchy. You can think of a directory as a file cabinet that contains folders that contain files. Many graphical user interfaces use the term folder instead of directory.
Computer manuals often describe directories and file structures in terms of an inverted tree. The files and directories at any level are contained in the directory above them. To access a file, you may need to specify the names of all the directories above it. You do this by specifying a path.
The topmost directory in any file is called the root directory. A directory that is below another directory is called a subdirectory. A directory above a subdirectory is called the parent directory. Under DOS and Windows, the root directory is a back slash (\).
To read information from, or write information into, a directory, you must use an operating system command. You cannot directly edit directory files. For example, the DIR command in DOSreads a directory file and displays its contents.
(2) In networks, a database of network resources, such as e-mail addresses. See under directory service.
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- directory service
A network service that identifies all resources on a network and makes them accessible to users and applications. Resources include e-mail addresses, computers, and peripheral devices such as printers. Ideally, the directory service should make the physical network topology and protocols transparent so that a user on a network can access any resource without knowing […]
- dirty bit
A bit in a memory cache or virtual memory page that has been modified by the CPU, but not yet written back to storage.
- dirty data
In reference to databases, data that contain errors. Dirty data can contain such mistakes as spelling or punctuation, incorrect data associated with a field, incomplete or outdated data or even data that is duplicated in the database.
- disc
Alternative spelling of disk . Disc is often used for optical discs, while disk generally refers to magnetic discs, but there is no real rule.