Difference between File.separator and slash in paths

Question

What is the difference between using File.separator and a normal / in a Java Path-String?

In contrast to double backslash \\\\

Answer 1

Using File.separator made Ubuntu generate files with "\" on it's name instead of directories. Maybe I am being lazy with how I am making files(and directories) and could have avoided it, regardless, use "/" every time to avoid files with "\" on it's name

Answer 2

OK let's inspect some code.
File.java lines 428 to 435 in File.<init>:

String p = uri.getPath();
if (p.equals(""))
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("URI path component is empty");

// Okay, now initialize
p = fs.fromURIPath(p);
if (File.separatorChar != '/')
p = p.replace('/', File.separatorChar);

And let's read fs/*(FileSystem)*/.fromURIPath() docs:

java.io.FileSystem
public abstract String fromURIPath(String path)
Post-process the given URI path string if necessary. This is used on win32, e.g., to transform "/c:/foo" into "c:/foo". The path string still has slash separators; code in the File class will translate them after this method returns.

This means FileSystem.fromURIPath() does post processing on URI path only in Windows, and because in the next line:

p = p.replace('/', File.separatorChar);

It replaces each '/' with system dependent seperatorChar, you can always be sure that '/' is safe in every OS.