Cd
The cd command, also known as chdir (change directory), is a command-line shell command used to change the current working directory in various operating systems. It can be used in shell scripts and batch files.
Options
Unix, Unix-like
-
cdby itself or cd ~ will always put the user in their home directory. -
cd .will leave the user in the same directory they are currently in (i.e. the current directory won't change). This can be useful if the user's shell's internal code can't deal with the directory they are in being recreated; running cd . will place their shell in the recreated directory. -
cd ~usernamewill put the user in the username's home directory. -
cd dir(without a /) will put the user in a subdirectory; for example, if they are in /usr, typing cd bin will put them in /usr/bin, while cd /bin puts them in /bin. -
cd ..will move the user up one directory. So, if they are /usr/bin/tmp, cd .. moves them to /usr/bin, while cd ../.. moves them to /usr (i.e. up two levels). The user can use this indirection to access subdirectories too. So, from /usr/bin/tmp, they can use cd ../../local to go to /usr/local -
cd -will switch the user to the previous directory. For example, if they are in /usr/bin/tmp, and go to /etc, they can type cd - to go back to /usr/bin/tmp. The user can use this to toggle back and forth between two directories without pushd and popd.