<p>What's the difference between absolute path &amp; relative path when using any web server or Tomcat?</p>

Absolute paths start with / and refer to a location from the root of the current site (or virtual host).
Relative paths do not start with / and refer to a location from the actual location of the document the reference is made.
Examples, assuming root is
http://foo.com/site/
Absolute path, no matter where we are on the site
```
```
/foo.html
```
```
will refer to
http://foo.com/site/foo.html
Relative path, assuming the containing link is located in
http://foo.com/site/part1/bar.html
```
```
../part2/quux.html
```
```
will refer to
http://foo.com/site/part2/quux.html
or
```
```
part2/blue.html
```
```
will refer to
http://foo.com/site/part1/part2/blue.html