NAME

pwd — return working directory name

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

The pwd utility writes the absolute pathname of the current working directory to the standard output.

Some shells may provide a builtin pwd command which is similar or identical to this utility. Consult the builtin(1) manual page.

The options are as follows:

-L

Display the logical current working directory.

-P

Display the physical current working directory (all symbolic links resolved).

If no options are specified, the -L option is assumed.

ENVIRONMENT

Environment variables used by pwd:

PWD

Logical current working directory.

EXIT STATUS

The pwd utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

EXAMPLES

Show current working directory with symbolic links resolved:

$ /bin/pwd -P
/usr/home/fernape

Show the logical current directory. Then use file(1) to inspect the /home directory:

$ /bin/pwd
/home/fernape
$ file /home
/home: symbolic link to usr/home

SEE ALSO

builtin(1), cd(1), csh(1), realpath(1), sh(1), getcwd(3)

STANDARDS

The pwd utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”).

HISTORY

The pwd command appeared in Version 5 AT&T UNIX.

BUGS

In csh(1) the command dirs is always faster because it is built into that shell. However, it 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.

The -L option does not work unless the PWD environment variable is exported by the shell.