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Pekka
Asked: 2011-05-07 00:51:51 +0800 CST

Is a child directory "underneath" or "above"?

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Is there a defined rule when to use underneath and when to use above when describing a child directory? I have encountered (and used) both:

Make sure the config file is stored above the web root.

(= outside the web root, not a child of it); also

Underneath the images folder, I have three sub-folders: Photographs, Illustrations and Thumbnails.

But I have heard it being used the other way round, too:

How to open files located under the webroot?

(referring to files outside the web root)

is there a correct one? Does this differ from OS to OS? How to avoid confusion?

windows linux filesystems

2 Answers

  1. I have always known it as

    • above = parent directory or higher
    • below/under = child directory or subdirectory
    • outside = anything not in a directory or child directory thereof

    I have never heard otherwise. Your two examples don't really contradict, either.

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  2. I'm surprised that you would ask, actually.

    The analogy is with depictions of family trees where the parents are shown above the children.

    I too have never heard any other interpretation.

    (if someone knows of a family tree shown with the parents below the children it's upside down)

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