The location of a file within this structure is indicated by a path. You can navigate through the directory structure, and read the index or readme files to get some idea of what files are available When you find a file you wish to get, click on the filename. A dialog box opens where you can instruct a Web browser like Netscape to download the file and you select the drive and directory on your computer where you want to put the file. A window usually appears which shows you the progress of the file transfer. Files and directories A file is a collection of data, and can hold any type of information that can be stored on a computer - documents, images, sounds, programs, and so on.
File names can consist of letters, numbers, and certain punctuation characters.
DOS file names can be up to eight characters, with a three character file extension. Mac and Unix filenames can be longer, but Unix files are case-sensitive Files are organised into collections called folders or directories Each computer has one main directory from which branch all the other directories. This is called the root directory . If you were to draw a diagram of such a system, it would look like a tree with branches and sub-branches growing from one main trunk When you write the name of a directory, you start at the root directory and show each directory that you must pass through to reach the ultimate branch. The pathname of that file File Compression Many of the files you retrieve by FTP will by compressed .