relative path
A file or directory location specified relative to the current working directory, rather than from the root of the filesystem. Relative paths do not begin with a forward slash.
A relative path describes the location of a file or directory in relation to where you are currently positioned in the filesystem. Unlike absolute paths that start with /, relative paths use the current directory as their reference point.
Common relative path shortcuts include . (current directory) and .. (parent directory). For example, if you're in /home/user/documents and want to access a file in /home/user/documents/reports/sales.txt, you can use the relative path reports/sales.txt instead of the full absolute path.
Relative paths are useful for portability—a script using relative paths works the same way regardless of where the parent directory is located. However, they depend on your current working directory, so moving to a different location changes how the same relative path resolves.