This is an Apple technical document excerpt, which explains some of my
confusion about Applescript and StataSE and the use of :'s or /'s in
pathnames. From what this says, I should be able to get Applescript to
work with pathnames containing /'s and not :'s. Chinh Nguyen has stated
that :'s still work.
What is a pathname?
To find a file or folder, you follow a particular path. As in Figure
2, you might open the Mac OS X disk, then the Users folder, then the
folder with your user name (or Home directory), and finally your
Desktop folder. A pathname is simply a concise way to identify a folder
by both its name and its location in the file system. This is important
when files and folders have the same name and can only be
differentiated by location. Mac OS X, for example, has four or more
folders named "Fonts" that can only be identified by pathname.
Absolute pathname
An absolute pathname gives an exact location by including the name of
every folder in the path from the root of the disk to the item being
named. For example, the absolute pathname of the Desktop folder in
Figure 2 would be:
/Users/mdh/Desktop
Note that the root of the disk is represented simply by the first
solidus, or "slash," symbol. Each subsequent solidus marks a division
between the names of nested folders.
Relative pathname
A relative pathname is described from the current location. If you
were the user mdh and you selected the Users folder (Figure 2), then
the relative pathname for the Desktop folder would be:
mdh/Desktop
Special abbreviations: the Home directory (~/) and root directory (/)
It is conventional to use the tilde (~) character to represent the
Home directory. For example, you could note that each user can install
personal fonts at ~/Library/Fonts/ in Mac OS X. The tilde may refer to
Home directories stored on your computer or on a network server.
It conventional to represent the root directory with the first solidus
(/) character in an absolute pathname.
Punctuation of pathnames: solidus (/) versus colon (:)
For Mac OS X and other UNIX or UNIX-like operating systems, it is
conventional to use the solidus (/) character to mark the division of
names. In earlier versions of Mac OS, it is conventional to use a
colon. A Mac OS 9 pathname would look like:
System Folder: Preferences: Sherlock Prefs: Sherlock Defaults
