What is the difference between a directory and a folder?

Question

Most people use the terms \"folder\" and \"directory\" interchangeably. From a programmer point of view, is there a difference, and if so, what is it? Does it depend on the OS,

Answer 1

Names of folders displayed in File Explorer (the GUI formerly called Windows Explorer) are not necessarily the same as the directories they represent. Consider a case where you are trying to programmatically open a particular folder, a plain directory on mass storage, not a virtual store. Say this was specified by a user based on the name displayed in File Explorer. This name could have been overridden by information in an alternate data stream (ADS) on the directory, and your program will not be referring to the file by its true pathname.

In two examples I've encountered, my app could not open a pathname specified by the user. One of these examples was related to OneDrive; I don't remember the full circumstances of the other example. Anyway, the display name is stored in the ADS named ms-properties:$DATA.

You can use CMD.EXE to list the ADS using DIR/R. Renaming such folders using the Properties menu item in File Explorer changes the contents of this ADS, and the name displayed to the end user in File Explorer is what he or she typed. But this procedure does not rename the directory.