The cd Command
The most important command for moving around in the Linux environment is the cd (“change directory”) command.
>cd directoryname
As always, you can find out more information about the cd command by reading the man pages:
>man cd
To return to your UNIX home directory, use the “~” (tilde):
>cd ~
Or to go to someone else’s home directory add his/her username after the “~” (tilde) sign:
>cd ~username
Note: You must have execute permission on a directory in order to cd to it (then you will need read permission in order to list (ls) the files in that directory).
Also note: The “/” (forward slash) is used in the path name to separate directory names. So, you do not have to change one directory at a time:
>cd directoryname/subdirectoryname/anotherdir
In the case above, the directory, called “directoryname“, is in the directory where you are currently located. If you need to get outside of your current directory, there are a few ways to do this:
-
>cd ..
In the example above, you are going up one level.
-
>cd ../adir/bdir
In the example above, you are going up one level then over to the directory, “adir“, and the sub-directory, “bdir“.
-
>cd /adir/bdir
Note the initial “/” (forward slash). In the example above, you are going to the root (top level) of the filesystem and then going to the directory, “adir“, and then the sub-directory, “bdir“.
Read the man pages for more information:
>man cd
The pwd Command
To find out what directory you are currently in, use the pwd (“print working directory”) command:
>pwd
Continue to Lesson 4 – Viewing/Searching for Files
Return to index of lessons.
Last revised May 9, 2003.