Folder (computing)

Folder (computing)

In computing, a folder, catalog (used on the Apple II, the Commodore 128 and some other early home computers as a command for displaying directory contents), or drawer, is a virtual container within a graphical user interface, in which groups of computer files and possibly other directories can be kept and organized. The corresponding name for the file system cataloging structure is directory, although names such as folder and drawer were adopted to provide some relevancy to the traditional office file cabinet (read section "The folder metaphor"). On Microsoft Windows, the terms folder and directory are used interchangeably.

Files are kept organized by storing related files in the same directory. In a hierarchical filesystem (that is, one in which files and directories are organized in a manner that resembles an inverted tree), a directory contained inside another directory is called a subdirectory. The terms parent and child are often used to describe the relationship between a subdirectory and the directory in which it is cataloged, the latter being the parent. The top-most directory in such a filesystem, which does not have a parent of its own, is called the root directory.