PWD(1)

NAME
pwd - display the pathname of the current working directory

SYNOPSIS
pwd

DESCRIPTION

pwd prints the pathname of the working (current) directory.

If you are using csh(1), you can use the dirs builtin command to do the same job more quickly; but dirs can give a different answer in the rare case that the current directory or a containing directory was moved after the shell descended into it. This is because pwd searches back up the directory tree to report the true pathname, whereas dirs remembers the pathname from the last cd(1) command. The example below illustrates the differences.

    example% cd  /usr/wendy/january/reports
    example% pwd
    /usr/wendy/january/reports
    example% dirs
    ~/january/reports
    example% mv ~/january ~/february
    example% pwd
    /usr/wendy/february/reports
    example% dirs
    ~/january/reports
    example%

pwd and dirs also give different answers when you change directory through a symbolic link. For example:
    example% cd  /usr/wendy/january/reports
    example% pwd
    /usr/wendy/january/reports
    example% dirs
    ~/january/reports
    example% ls -l /usr/wendy/january
    lrwxrwxrwx  1 wendy          17 Jan 30  1983 /usr/wendy/january -> /usr/wendy/1984/jan/
    example% cd  /usr/wendy/january
    example% pwd
    /usr/wendy/1984/jan
    example% dirs
    /usr/wendy/january

The pathnames of files mounted with the Automounter can also change if the file is not used for a certain time interval (the default is five minutes). To prevent this, set the environment variable AUTOMOUNT_FIXNAMES. See automount(8) for more information.

SEE ALSO
cd(1), csh(1), automount(8)