RE: Slashes in paths

Subject: RE: Slashes in paths
From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
To: Karen Felker <akaren -at- earthlink -dot- net>, Tech Writers <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 09:16:14 -0400



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Karen Felker

> Is there any prescribed way to use slashes at the end of a path?
> For example, if I want to tell users to place a file inside the bin
> directory, which treatment of slashes is preferred:
>
> Save install.exe in <install dir>/bin/
> Save install.exe in <install dir>/bin

I don't know about "prescribed" (he said, not
bothering to hunt up his copy of the MS or SUN
style guide), but I prefer the final slash
(or backslash for Windows). Without it, I expect
the final characters to be a filename.

It's usually easy to tell from context what is intended
or expected, but it takes that additional moment of
thought, that "increased cognitive load" that doesn't
add any value to the user. So I figure if it's as
easy as including a terminating slash to make it
unambiguous, why not?

In my docs, if the last item in a path is a directory
(or folder...) I finish with a slash or backslash.


- k
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Follow-Ups:

References:
Slashes in paths: From: Karen Felker

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