[wp-hackers] Why always absolute paths?

[Jon Brown]

Please excuse me if I jump into this and my question is a OT, it does seems on topic to me...  but I'm just starting to lurk here to get a feel.  Anyway...

Is there an equivalent to <?php bloginfo('template_directory');?> that points to the /wp-content folder?  It seems to me that it would at least provide a bridge for those that need it, like me, to make moving sites between domains easier?

I find myself often developing at http://example.com/dev and later moving to http://example.com/ or http://example.com/blog.  I could then use SQL to replace any errant instances of  http://example.com/dev/wp-content to <?php bloginfo('wp-content');?> prior to moving the site... would that even work?  php in the link fields?  

Thanks for your patience,
Jon