How the cd command works in Linux

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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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