Check "The folder metaphor" section at Wikipedia. It states: There is a difference between a directory, which is a file system concept, and the graphical user interface metaphor that is used to represent it (a folder). For example, Microsoft Windows uses the concept of special folders to help present the contents of the computer to the user in a fairly consistent way that frees the user from ...
Every directory on a Unix system (and probably every other system too) contains at least two directory entries. These are . (current directory) and .. (parent directory). In the case of the root directory, these point to the same place, but with any other directory, they are different. You can see this for yourself using the stat, pwd and cd commands (on Linux): $ cd / $ stat . .. bin sbin ...
directory - What are ./ and ../ directories? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
windows - What are "." and ".." in a directory? - Super User
8 ~ is your home directory, yes. Which is very nice since your home directory is not always where you think it should be (/home/). Also, fun fact: You can use "cd ~myuser" to get to the home directory of the user "myuser".
linux - What directory is '~' when I type 'cd ~'? - Stack Overflow
The path meanings: / is the root of the current drive; ./ is the current directory; ../ is the parent of the current directory.
What is the location of the $HOME directory in Windows (WSL v2)? i.e. What address can I type in Windows Explorer to get to the $HOME directory in my WSL installation. ...