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Do the special files . and .. actually exist and are stored/located in the file system as normal files, or are they interpreted/created only when accessed by the filesystem handlers?
. (current directory).. (parent directory)My assumption is that they do not exist – otherwise, when you create symlinks or bind mounts, things would break.
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. ( dot) means the current directory you're in. .. (dot dot) means the parent directory of the current directory you're in.
Dotfiles are configuration files for various programs, and they help those programs manage their functionality. What sets them apart from regular files and directories is their prefix. Dotfiles are named that way because each file and directory starts with a dot ( . )
On Unix-like operating systems every directory contains, as a minimum, an object represented by a single dot and another represented by two successive dots. The former refers to the directory itself and the latter refers to its parent directory (i.e., the directory that contains it).
In filesystems, we use the double dot (..) to access the parent directory, whereas the single dot (.) represents the current directory.
You are correct in your assumption. These files are merely there as an abstraction layer to navigate to and describe a resources location..
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