directive

A directive is an instruction or order intended to guide action or behavior. It can be informal guidance or a formal mandate issued by a person or body with authority. In many contexts, a directive implies an obligation that recipients are expected to follow, though enforceability varies by context.

In government and international law, a directive is a binding instrument that requires authorities to achieve certain results within a set period, while leaving the choice of methods to the recipient jurisdiction. The European Union uses directives to harmonize laws among member states; directives must be transposed into national law, and they differ from regulations, which apply directly without national transposition.

In computing, a directive is a statement that directs the behavior of a compiler, interpreter, or runtime environment. Preprocessor directives in languages such as C and C++ control compilation, while other environments use directives or pragmas to influence optimization, warnings, or linkage.

In organizational and administrative settings, a directive is a formal order from higher authority directing employees or units to undertake specific actions. It may be issued as part of policy implementation, operations, or safety requirements, and it is usually distinguished from broader policies or regulations in that it prescribes concrete steps or tasks.

In linguistics and semantics, the term can describe language used to issue commands or requests, often realized by the imperative mood, though this usage varies by theory.