Adding "~" to the href for a html link

Question

I have the following link inside my asp.net mvc razor view:-

<a class="brand" href="~/Home/Index/"> <img alt="test" src="~/Content/logo.png" /> </a>

But i am not sure what does the symbol ~ inside the src & href do ? as removing this symbol will still reference to the correct imag and the correct url ? can anyone advice please ?

Thanks

Answer 1

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178116(v=vs.100).aspx

~ means root directory of your application.

Following SO post may help to know more.

slash(/) vs tilde slash (~/) in style sheet path in asp.net

In your case removing the ~ from path will make your path absolute. Then the url will become http://example.com/absoulte/path. If your project root directory and web root is same, it will make no difference. You may also want to visit these links.

http://www.boogiejack.com/server_paths.html

Absolute path & Relative Path

Answer 2

"~" is notation for webroot.. if you have IIS C:/inetpub/wwwroot/ is your webroot..

it has its existence (origin) from UNIX ~ which denotes home directory

Answer 3

~ is your 'home' folder, on Unix it is eg. /home/andy (it is taken from $HOME variable - and it can be set by you to any other folder)

Answer 4

The ~ symbol represents the currently logged in users home directory on a linux/unix system.