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Linux – cd

Linux cd command

The cd command stands for “change directory”. This command is used to leave current directory and navigate to another directory on the system.

Syntax:

cd <Path to new dir>

Change to a New Directory

After login to the system, the user gets the home directory. Now you can navigate to another directory for example /home/rahul/Workspace where my present directory is /home/rahul

cd Workspace

Use pwd to check your present working directory.

pwd

/home/rahul/Workspace

There are two ways to navigate between directories is the absolute path and relative path.

The Absolute Path vs Relative Path

Absolute Path:

An absolute path is a complete path to the directory from the root directory (/). In simple terms, all the path started with a slash (/) are an absolute path. For example:

  • /var
  • /var/www/html
  • /home/rahul/Workspace
  • /backup/db/daily

You can see all the above paths are started with a slash (/).

Relativ Path:

Any path which is not started with a slash (/) is a relative path. For example:

  • Documents
  • www/html
  • Workspace/Linux/Guides
  • www/tecadmin.net/

Change Directory with Absolute Path

Changing to directory /home/rahul/Workspace with absolute directory using the cd command.

cd /home/rahul/Workspace

Change Directory with Relative Path

Changing to the directory Linux/Guides with relative path using the cd command.

cd Linux/Guides

The cd Options

Use below options to understand the uses of cd command.

 Option
 Description
cd .
The single dot (.) denotes to current directory. This will keep you in current directory.
cd ..
Change to parent directory.
cd ~
Change to home directory. As ~ denotes to home directory.
cd –
Change to previos directory
cd /path/to/dir
Change to specified directory
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