[me-vs-cat]

The shell rarely "sees" files and folders, except for expanding a glob like "*".

When the shell executes "cmd folder/file", the "folder/file" is just a string as far as the shell is concerned. It is the command that uses that string with a function like unlink or open.

[sureglymop]

Okay... you're right. So should I say "the process" and every process forked or exec'd instead of "the shell"? But is it clear what I am looking for?