1. <networking> A bang path or explicitly routed Internet address; a node-by-node specification of a link between two machines.
2. <file system> The specification of a node (directory) in a hierarchical file system. The path is usually specified by listing the nodes top-down, separating the directories by the pathname separator.
See also absolute path, relative path.
3. <operating system> The list of directories the kernel (under unix) or the command interpreter (under MS-DOS) searches for executables. It is stored as part of the environment in both operating systems.
Other, similar constructs abound under Unix; the C preprocessor, for example, uses such a search path to locate "#include" files.
(21 Nov 1996)