German word for the separator(slash, backslash etc.) in a path

Question

While documenting our software we realized nobody here knows how the separator inside a path is called.

/some/linux/path/
^    ^     ^    ^
C:\some\windows\path\
  ^    ^       ^    ^
C:¥some¥windows¥path¥injapan¥
  ^    ^       ^    ^       ^

Our initial intuition told us, that we could use either "Pfadtrennzeichen" or "Verzeichnistrennzeichen", but thinking and talking about it we came to the conclusion if interpreted rigorously those mean "the character separating whole paths from each other". (e.g. ; in /path/one/;/path/two/)

Looking into the Wikipedia page about paths, the authors sidestepped this problem elegantly by not mentioning the differences between Linux and Windows paths. Looking into this Wikipedia page about slashes the used term is "Trennzeichen" but without specifying what exactly is separated, since the context is given by the article.

To be honest I'm not convinced the English term "path separator" we are using in our english documentations is 100% correct either, since there seems to be some confusion about it too: Question about Java pathSeparator vs separator but that is a question for another time.

Answer 1

Choose one from:

• Pfadtrennzeichen
• Pfadseparator
• Verzeichnistrennzeichen

Separator is not overly convincing, since the -tor suffix is typically used for something performing as task (here: a separation, cf. Reflektor), while the required meaning is only indicating it.

With the definition, that a path consists of several directories followed by a final filename, Verzeichnistrennzeichen wins the prize for maximum precision, but unfortunately also has the maximum number of syllables, discouraging its use.

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Update: For the ambiguousness of compound words (i. e. does Pfadtrennzeichen denote a a separator [of unnamed items] within a path, or the separation of paths [within an unnamed item]), see also this question, which I would summarize as: it can't be known from looking at the word, you have to consult a dictionary.

Answer 2

The term for / (Unix) and \ (MS-Windows) is Verzeichnistrenner. It's sometimes also called Pfadtrenner but that's incorrect in a strict sense, as that one is : (Unix) and ; (MS-Windows). That Pfadtrenner is used when you need a list of directories that should be considered.