Is "../foldername" a sufficient reference

[Kresten Bjerg]

I wonder, whether there is a simple short way scripting for  a standalone in MacFAT & Linux ( where standalone consists of three files) to identify the parent folder, i.e. just naming it, without refering to grandparent and grandgrandparents etc -. We see  " ../foldername".  often in the documentation, but I dont know, if that supposes the scripter to fill in series of parents above, or the "../" can be used literally?
Best regards
Kresten