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I'm trying to rename directory and I need to use "/" symbol but ubuntu won't allow it. Is where any way to "cheat" ubuntu into allowing me to use it?

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    Please explain why you think you need a / symbol. (in fact the answer from Venge already try to explain this, but it's better if you explain it directly)
    – A.L
    Apr 21, 2014 at 3:15

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You probably don't actually want to do this. As other people have said, / is the directory name separator (i.e., it separates directory names in a path). So if you think that you actually want / in a directory name because something is telling you to do it, you're probably misreading the instructions and/or the instructions are wrong. All the answers telling you how to 'fake' it are telling you how to do something you don't want to do, and won't help you anyway: even though a character might look like a forward slash, your OS won't treat it as one for the same reason that it treats 1 and l and I differently.

As 3Doubloons said in a comment, if documentation mentions a folder named mods/, what it actually means is a folder named mods. The fact that it's not finding it is an entirely separate issue.

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    Nice answer, you focused on the root of the problem (the other answers just explain how to insert useless lookalike characters). I think you can emphasise that a path ending with / does not mean that / is required but is used to remove ambiguity about the nature of the path. mods can be a file or a directory, mods/ can only be a directory.
    – A.L
    Apr 21, 2014 at 3:11
  • +1 If we want to be charitable, we can suppose the absent-minded commentators (myself included!) assumed that the OP had already tried to use a plain mods directory. Perhaps @user88114 can confirm that.
    – duplode
    Apr 21, 2014 at 15:21
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The / is a reserved character to indicate directories. A block for this is even included in our kernel. More details on stackoverflow. You can use another char that -looks- like a / though. From comments in the link:

There are plenty of other suitable candidates: ⁄ is U+2044 FRACTION SLASH; ∕ is U+2215 DIVISION SLASH; ⧸ is U+29F8 BIG SOLIDUS; ／ is U+FF0F FULLWIDTH SOLIDUS, and ╱ is U+2571 is BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT DIAGONAL UPPER RIGHT TO LOWER LEFT. All would work admirably!

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  • Yea, the problem is that directory should come with symbol "/" in it's back. So I need a folder "mods/", but then I exctract file which was created in windows I only get name "mods" without "/" at he back. And modding tool is searching for folder named "mods/" but of course it cannot find it. Man, I guess you understand it :)
    – user88114
    Apr 20, 2014 at 17:52
  • I guess I will not be able to play faster than light with mods :(
    – user88114
    Apr 20, 2014 at 17:56
  • Na, It is java crap
    – user88114
    Apr 20, 2014 at 18:01
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    @user88114 Given your comments I suppose you are trying to use Slipstream Mod Manager. That project is open source and hosted in GitHub, and so I suggest you send the devs a bug report: github.com/Vhati/Slipstream-Mod-Manager/issues
    – duplode
    Apr 20, 2014 at 18:43
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    @user88114: Are you sure the program needs a folder literally named mods/? Usually, the notation <name>/ simply indicates "a folder named <name>, especially in multi-platform projects
    – 3Doubloons
    Apr 20, 2014 at 20:06
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No. / is directory separator, like \ and / in Windows.

However, if you really want to use /, you can use similar characters. In my opinion, U+29F8 (BIG SOLIDUS) looks like a slash, and you can copy it from here. You can also modify the file system directly, but this is not recommended, and probably would confuse operating system a lot, because it would introduce ambiguities (is /bin/bash the file in current directory, or path to standard interpreter?).

⧸

The best way however is avoiding / in file names. There are other characters you can use. For example, you can write & instead of / in certain cases (files/directories vs files&directories). This will make things less confusing.

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You cannot use / in a folder's name! There's no way Linux could make the difference between a subfolder in folder and single folder.

Read more:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1976007/what-characters-are-forbidden-in-windows-and-linux-directory-names

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