path name

A string that is used to identify a file. A path name consists of, at most, {PATH_MAX} bytes, including the terminating null character. It has an optional beginning slash, followed by zero or more file names separated by slashes. If the path name refers to a directory, it may also have one or more trailing slashes. Multiple successive slashes are considered to be the same as one slash. A path name that begins with two successive slashes may be interpreted in an implementation-dependent manner, although more than two leading slashes will be treated as a single slash. The interpretation of the path name is described in pathname resolution. ISO.1.
A file name specifying all directories leading to the file.