up vote 5 down vote favorite
4

This question already has an answer here:

What does the command ./ mean? For example, sometimes we call a file with ./config, sometimes ../config, thanks

share|improve this question

marked as duplicate by Florian Diesch, Warren Hill, Seth♦, Braiam, Radu Rădeanu Oct 13 '13 at 19:47

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
    
There almost certainly is a duplicate out there @Joren but in this case, that isn't a good one as it doesn't really explain anything about why it's required for executing things. Edit: Hmm maybe I'm making a bad assumption about it being executable. – Oli♦ Oct 13 '13 at 18:21
2  
./some_file means run some_file in the current directory. ../some_file means run some file in the parent directory. Perhaps this question explains it better: Why do I need to type ./ before executing a program in the current directory? – Warren Hill Oct 13 '13 at 18:47
up vote 9 down vote accepted

./config means you're calling something in the current working directory. In this case config is an executable. You have to specify the path for executables if they're outside your $PATH variable and that's why config isn't enough.

../config would be used if the config executable were in the parent of the current working directory.

share|improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.