Epson 386SX - Manual (Page 116)

Using Pathnames
You use pathnames with MS-DOS commands to tell MS-DOS
how to find its way to the directory you want to access.
Backslashes separate the directories in a pathname. There are
two types of pathnames: absolute and relative. An absolute
pathname begins with a backslash and tells MS-DOS how to
find its way to the desired directory from the root directory. A
relative pathname does not begin with a backslash and tells
MS-DOS how to find its way to the desired directory from the
current directory.
Here is an example of an absolute pathname:
The pathname above tells MS-DOS to start at the root
directory, go down the directory tree to the WORDPROC
directory, and then continue down the tree to the PERSONAL
directory.
Here is an example of a relative pathname:
SALES
The pathname above tells MS-DOS to find a directory named
SALES that is one level below the current directory. Using the
example above, this pathname is valid only if you are logged
onto the SPDSHEET directory.
Relative pathnames can tell MS-DOS to move upward in the
directory tree as well as downward. The symbol . . (two
periods) in a pathname tells MS-DOS to move upward one
level in the tree. For example, if the current directory is
WORDPROC, the pathname . .
\DOS
tells MS-DOS to move
up one level from WORDPROC (in the example above, to the
root directory) and then find a subdirectory called DOS.
4-20 Using MS-DOS with Your Equity 386SX