I have made a few batch files the hard way by CD-ing into the directory by typing all the way from root drive to folder. I have seen a few example codes use percent signs enclosing a few key words and continue from there, eg:
%user_files%\programs\destination folder
They have always worked too.
The different %directory_name% examples you see are called Environment variables. Normally, no matter how or where your Windows was installed, these environment variables are resolved by the command line interpreter (CLI) to the actual directories. E.g. %userprofile% will, on Windows 7, always point to C:\Users\[username]\, assuming your Windows was installed on the C:\ drive.
