When you login to a cpanel based hosting account for the first time, you'll probably end up noticing that the public_html and www directories have the same files in them and it will probably end up confusing you as to which one to use. The answer? Whichever one you like. The www directory is not a directory at all, but in reality a symbolic link. It works somewhat like a sci-fi warp. You click on it and you're warped into the public_html directory. Depending on what you're accessing the files with, it may retain the www name as the directory you're in, or it may show the actual directory you're in (/public_html). Using either one will work the same way and you can even use the www when using paths in scripts if you like something that's shorter.