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


CommandExplanation
pwdDisplay the current working directory. Example: /home/foobar
pwd -PDisplay 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 -LDisplay 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

References

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