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1. Is there a relative pathname/directory/folder meaning for the expression "..."?
2. What does "..." refer to in the context cited?

I encountered the expression "..." when looking at the installation instructions for http://code.google.com/p/vim-win3264/wiki/Win64Binaries and it says the following (note bolded text):

Unzip the zipfile into a directory whose name ends in vim, such as C:\Program Files\Vim, D:\vim, or C:\mytools\vim. This will create a vim72 subdirectory, containing all the files. Start a cmd.exe window, cd ...\vim\vim72, then run install.exe, the command-line installer. This will offer you a series of choices. You can probably just type d to "do it".`

                                              Bonus points for listing all relative directory pathnames!

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    No - it's just shorthand for "whatever", i.e. whatever your path happens to be to this particular subdirectory.
    – Paul R
    Sep 26, 2012 at 6:42
  • As far as I know . and .. are the only ones. The triple dot probably is shorthand for 'wherever vim is installed'.
    – lego
    Sep 26, 2012 at 6:44
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    Old timer trivia: on Win9x systems (but not NT-based systems), the cd command would treat ... similarly to ..\.. and .... similarly to ..\..\.. and so on. at least for the cd command (I don't think it worked like that in general). I wish this carried over to NT - it was a handy shortcut.
    – Michael Burr
    Sep 26, 2012 at 20:06
  • Why is this downvoted when it's a feasible syntax question about a popular programming-related topic?
    – Pup
    Sep 26, 2012 at 22:29
  • I'm confused about this because ... and other numbers of dots beyond 3 are interpreted as an existing directory name with no contents. If you dir ... it has no contents. If you cd ... you end up in the same place. If you rd ... it says it is in use by another process. One might think it's the same as . but if you rd /s . it will erase the contents of the current directory before saying that it is in use. If you rd /s ... it will not erase anything but just say it is in use.
    – Dave Cousineau
    Mar 20 at 21:08

2 Answers 2

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I don't think that ... in this case means anything like "up one/two/three levels". I have never heard of ... having a meaning for the cd command for example.

I think they're referring to the fact that they don't know where you actually unzipped the archive, so ...\vim\vim72 could mean C:\Program Files\vim\vim72 or D:\vim or C:\mytools\vim\vim72 etc.

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  • I agree! That was my first impression-- "..." typically denotes silence or maybe, more abstractly, emptiness.
    – Pup
    Sep 26, 2012 at 19:38
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There is no formal meaning, but a common interpretation is "the path leading up to that point", since the ellipsis generally indicates silence or a pause or void or gap.

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