1 A directory is a catalog of "segments." It serves like a file drawer,
2 with segments being the file folders in that drawer. There are many
3 directories on Multics, some of them indigenous to Multics and others created
4 by users. Each contains its own segments. No two segments in a directory can
5 have the same name, but like-named segments can be kept in separate
6 directories.
7
8 Directories also catalog other directories, thereby creating hierarchies
9 of directories. For example, a directory named Smith could have three or
10 four directories under it, and those directories in turn could have
11 directories under them. The hierarchy of a particular set of directories is
12 indicated by the greater-than character >. For example, the order of two
13 directories under Smith is:
14
15 Smith>directory_1>directory_a
16
17 This indicates that directory_1 is a directory under, or contained by, the
18 directory Smith and that directory_a is a directory under directory_1.
19 A segment contained in a directory would be in the last place in the line of
20 directories. For example:
21
22 Smith>directory_1>directory_a>my_segment
23
24 If you wanted to indicate that the segment is in directory_1, you would
25 represent the hierarchy as follows:
26
27 Smith>directory_1>my_segment
28
29 A directory name cannot follow a segment name because directories are not
30 contained in segments.
31
32 Directories are created with the create_dir "command." Names on
33 directories follow the same conventions as those on segments: they cannot
34 contain blank spaces and uppercase letters are distinguished from lowercase
35 letters.