pwd
In Unix-like and some other operating systems, the pwd
command (print working directory)[1][2][3][4][5]
writes the full pathname of the current working directory to the standard output.[6][7][8][9][10]
The command is a shell builtin in most Unix shells such as Bourne shell, ash, bash, ksh, and zsh. It can be implemented easily with the POSIX C functions getcwd()
or getwd()
.
The equivalent on DOS (COMMAND.COM
) and Microsoft Windows (cmd.exe
) is the cd
command with no arguments. Windows PowerShell provides the equivalent Get-Location
cmdlet with the standard aliases gl
and pwd
. The OpenVMS equivalent is show default
.
*nix examples
Command | Explanation |
---|---|
pwd | Display the current working directory. Example: /home/foobar |
pwd -P | Display the current working directory physical path - without symbolic link name, if any. Example: If standing in a dir /home/symlinked, that is a symlink to /home/realdir, this would show /home/realdir |
pwd -L | Display the current working directory logical path - with symbolic link name, if any. Example: If standing in a dir /home/symlinked, that is a symlink to /home/realdir, this would show /home/symlinked |
Note: POSIX requires that the default behavior be as if the -L switch were provided.
Working directory shell variables
POSIX shells set the following environment variables while using the cd command:[11]
OLDPWD – The previous working directory (as set by the cd command). PWD – The current working directory (as set by the cd command).
See also
- Breadcrumb (navigation), an alternative way of displaying the work directory
- List of GNU Core Utilities commands
- List of Unix programs
pushd
andpopd
References
- ↑ UNIX TIME-SHARING SYSTEM: UNIX PROGRAMMER’S MANUAL Seventh Edition, Volume 1 (January, 1979) by Bell labs, Page 142
- ↑ Minix MAN page
- ↑ Linux MAN page
- ↑ GNU Coreutils MAN page
- ↑ Bell Labs Plan 9 MAN page
- ↑ POSIX Standard (IEEE Std 1003.1) pwd page
- ↑ DEC OSF/1 MAN page
- ↑ Apple OS X MAN page
- ↑ OpenBSD MAN page
- ↑ OpenSolaris MAN page
- ↑ POSIX Standard (IEEE Std 1003.1) cd page