Epson LT - 286e - Manual (Page 76)

Because this pathname does not begin with a backslash,
MS-DOS starts in the current directory (PERSONAL), moves
to the subdirectory LETTERS, then finds the file APRIL.TXT.
If you did begin with the backslash, MS-DOS would not find
the file, because it is located in a subdirectory of PERSONAL,
not of the root directory.
Creating Directories
The MKDIR command lets you create directories. To create the
directory LEDGER within your root directory, for example, type
the following and press Enter:
M K D I R
\LEDGER
You can abbreviate the name of this command to MD. For
example, to create a SALES directory under the LEDGER
directory, type the following and press Enter:
MD \LEDGER\SALES
To check that the LEDGER directory is a subdirectory of the
root directory, type DIR \ and press Enter.
Using MS-DOS With Your Computer 3-11