The cd command in linux stands for change directory, and is used to change directory when you have a terminal window open. It's used frequently, so it is useful to know.
The syntax for the cd command looks like this:
cd [OPTIONS] directory
How the cd command works
At its most basic, when we open a new terminal window, we can use cd to navigate between directories. Suppose we are in Documents, and there is a subfolder called Project. If we want to move into the Project folder, we would type the following:
cd Project
And if we want to move back up to documents, we can use ../ - so assuming we are in now in Project, the following command will bring us back to the Documents directory:
cd ../
Using Relative Path Names with cd in Linux
While ../ refers to the directory one level above, ./ refers to the current directory. As such, if we are in Documents and want to move to Project again, the following command will also work:
cd ./Project
We can also string ../ together - so the following will move two directories up:
cd ../../
How to navigate to the home directory in Linux
If you want to navigate to the home directory in linux, we have to use the cd command along with a tilde, or ~.
As such, the following command will navigate us to the home directory:
cd ~
We can also navigate to directories within the home directory by following it with a slash, so the following will move us into a folder called Project within our home directory:
cd ~/Project
Options for the cd command in Linux
There are two options available to the cd command which we can mention straight after we type cd. These are:
-
-L- which is by default enabled, and ensures recognition of symlinks within linux. -
-P- which does the opposite of -L and ignores symlinks.
What are symlinks?
Symlinks or symbolic links are virtual folders. They link to other folders in other directories. If we use -P with cd, then symlinks are ignored.
An example of a cd command with symlinks disabled looks like this:
cd -P ~/Project
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