pwd without symlinks
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
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If I do pwd I notice it uses whatever symlinks I used to get into the current directory. Can I get it to tell me the "real" directory I'm in ... i.e. the path from the root to my current directory without the use of any symlinks?
symlink
asked Feb 2 '11 at 18:07
JoelFan
535713
add a comment |
up vote
46
down vote
favorite
If I do pwd I notice it uses whatever symlinks I used to get into the current directory. Can I get it to tell me the "real" directory I'm in ... i.e. the path from the root to my current directory without the use of any symlinks?
symlink
asked Feb 2 '11 at 18:07
JoelFan
535713
add a comment |
up vote
46
down vote
favorite
up vote
46
down vote
favorite
If I do pwd I notice it uses whatever symlinks I used to get into the current directory. Can I get it to tell me the "real" directory I'm in ... i.e. the path from the root to my current directory without the use of any symlinks?
symlink
asked Feb 2 '11 at 18:07
JoelFan
535713
If I do pwd I notice it uses whatever symlinks I used to get into the current directory. Can I get it to tell me the "real" directory I'm in ... i.e. the path from the root to my current directory without the use of any symlinks?
symlink
symlink
asked Feb 2 '11 at 18:07
JoelFan
535713
asked Feb 2 '11 at 18:07
JoelFan
535713
asked Feb 2 '11 at 18:07
JoelFan
535713
asked Feb 2 '11 at 18:07
JoelFan
535713
asked Feb 2 '11 at 18:07
JoelFan
535713
535713
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
60
down vote
According to the POSIX manpage for pwd, the -P option may be of use:
-P The absolute pathname written
shall not contain filenames that, in
the context of the pathname, refer to
files of type symbolic link.
Thus
$ pwd -P
should be what you need.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 18:44
Steven D
31.6k696108
I would like to point out that this information is easily found by typingman pwdin shell to find out options for this command.
– Chud37
Mar 9 at 14:52
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
The pwd shell built-in uses the path the shell keeps track of when you cd (and stores it in $PWD). This means if you have a symlink to a complex (deep) path, it will tell you what you typed to change to that directory instead of the real path. This is done to give you what you want most of the time.
/bin/pwd uses the getcwd system call (which these days is a library call, reading /proc/self/cwd) which returns the canonical path for the current directory, sans all symlink traversals.
As Steven D pointed out, pwd has the -P option to ignore $PWD. It also has the -L option to return the contents of $PWD. The man page for pwd does not say which option is used by default but experience tells me the above description is correct (shell pwd vs. /bin/pwd). However you should probably not rely on that and just use pwd -P.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 22:35
camh
24.1k66252
2
The behavior you describe is the one on Linux systems where/bin/pwdis GNUpwdwhen POSIXLY_CORRECT is not set. On POSIX systems where thepwdis in/bin./bin/pwdwill use $PWD and may return paths with symlinks. GNU pwd will behave in that POSIX manner when it find a POSIXLY_CORRECT variable in its environment.
– Stéphane Chazelas
Dec 2 '12 at 20:10
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
60
down vote
According to the POSIX manpage for pwd, the -P option may be of use:
-P The absolute pathname written
shall not contain filenames that, in
the context of the pathname, refer to
files of type symbolic link.
Thus
$ pwd -P
should be what you need.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 18:44
Steven D
31.6k696108
I would like to point out that this information is easily found by typingman pwdin shell to find out options for this command.
– Chud37
Mar 9 at 14:52
add a comment |
up vote
60
down vote
According to the POSIX manpage for pwd, the -P option may be of use:
-P The absolute pathname written
shall not contain filenames that, in
the context of the pathname, refer to
files of type symbolic link.
Thus
$ pwd -P
should be what you need.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 18:44
Steven D
31.6k696108
I would like to point out that this information is easily found by typingman pwdin shell to find out options for this command.
– Chud37
Mar 9 at 14:52
add a comment |
up vote
60
down vote
up vote
60
down vote
According to the POSIX manpage for pwd, the -P option may be of use:
-P The absolute pathname written
shall not contain filenames that, in
the context of the pathname, refer to
files of type symbolic link.
Thus
$ pwd -P
should be what you need.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 18:44
Steven D
31.6k696108
According to the POSIX manpage for pwd, the -P option may be of use:
-P The absolute pathname written
shall not contain filenames that, in
the context of the pathname, refer to
files of type symbolic link.
Thus
$ pwd -P
should be what you need.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 18:44
Steven D
31.6k696108
answered Feb 2 '11 at 18:44
Steven D
31.6k696108
answered Feb 2 '11 at 18:44
Steven D
31.6k696108
answered Feb 2 '11 at 18:44
Steven D
31.6k696108
31.6k696108
I would like to point out that this information is easily found by typingman pwdin shell to find out options for this command.
– Chud37
Mar 9 at 14:52
add a comment |
I would like to point out that this information is easily found by typingman pwdin shell to find out options for this command.
– Chud37
Mar 9 at 14:52
I would like to point out that this information is easily found by typing
man pwd in shell to find out options for this command.– Chud37
Mar 9 at 14:52
I would like to point out that this information is easily found by typing
man pwd in shell to find out options for this command.– Chud37
Mar 9 at 14:52
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
The pwd shell built-in uses the path the shell keeps track of when you cd (and stores it in $PWD). This means if you have a symlink to a complex (deep) path, it will tell you what you typed to change to that directory instead of the real path. This is done to give you what you want most of the time.
/bin/pwd uses the getcwd system call (which these days is a library call, reading /proc/self/cwd) which returns the canonical path for the current directory, sans all symlink traversals.
As Steven D pointed out, pwd has the -P option to ignore $PWD. It also has the -L option to return the contents of $PWD. The man page for pwd does not say which option is used by default but experience tells me the above description is correct (shell pwd vs. /bin/pwd). However you should probably not rely on that and just use pwd -P.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 22:35
camh
24.1k66252
2
The behavior you describe is the one on Linux systems where/bin/pwdis GNUpwdwhen POSIXLY_CORRECT is not set. On POSIX systems where thepwdis in/bin./bin/pwdwill use $PWD and may return paths with symlinks. GNU pwd will behave in that POSIX manner when it find a POSIXLY_CORRECT variable in its environment.
– Stéphane Chazelas
Dec 2 '12 at 20:10
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
The pwd shell built-in uses the path the shell keeps track of when you cd (and stores it in $PWD). This means if you have a symlink to a complex (deep) path, it will tell you what you typed to change to that directory instead of the real path. This is done to give you what you want most of the time.
/bin/pwd uses the getcwd system call (which these days is a library call, reading /proc/self/cwd) which returns the canonical path for the current directory, sans all symlink traversals.
As Steven D pointed out, pwd has the -P option to ignore $PWD. It also has the -L option to return the contents of $PWD. The man page for pwd does not say which option is used by default but experience tells me the above description is correct (shell pwd vs. /bin/pwd). However you should probably not rely on that and just use pwd -P.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 22:35
camh
24.1k66252
2
The behavior you describe is the one on Linux systems where/bin/pwdis GNUpwdwhen POSIXLY_CORRECT is not set. On POSIX systems where thepwdis in/bin./bin/pwdwill use $PWD and may return paths with symlinks. GNU pwd will behave in that POSIX manner when it find a POSIXLY_CORRECT variable in its environment.
– Stéphane Chazelas
Dec 2 '12 at 20:10
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
up vote
7
down vote
The pwd shell built-in uses the path the shell keeps track of when you cd (and stores it in $PWD). This means if you have a symlink to a complex (deep) path, it will tell you what you typed to change to that directory instead of the real path. This is done to give you what you want most of the time.
/bin/pwd uses the getcwd system call (which these days is a library call, reading /proc/self/cwd) which returns the canonical path for the current directory, sans all symlink traversals.
As Steven D pointed out, pwd has the -P option to ignore $PWD. It also has the -L option to return the contents of $PWD. The man page for pwd does not say which option is used by default but experience tells me the above description is correct (shell pwd vs. /bin/pwd). However you should probably not rely on that and just use pwd -P.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 22:35
camh
24.1k66252
The pwd shell built-in uses the path the shell keeps track of when you cd (and stores it in $PWD). This means if you have a symlink to a complex (deep) path, it will tell you what you typed to change to that directory instead of the real path. This is done to give you what you want most of the time.
/bin/pwd uses the getcwd system call (which these days is a library call, reading /proc/self/cwd) which returns the canonical path for the current directory, sans all symlink traversals.
As Steven D pointed out, pwd has the -P option to ignore $PWD. It also has the -L option to return the contents of $PWD. The man page for pwd does not say which option is used by default but experience tells me the above description is correct (shell pwd vs. /bin/pwd). However you should probably not rely on that and just use pwd -P.
answered Feb 2 '11 at 22:35
camh
24.1k66252
edited Mar 4 '11 at 22:04
answered Feb 2 '11 at 22:35
camh
24.1k66252
answered Feb 2 '11 at 22:35
camh
24.1k66252
answered Feb 2 '11 at 22:35
camh
24.1k66252
24.1k66252
2
The behavior you describe is the one on Linux systems where/bin/pwdis GNUpwdwhen POSIXLY_CORRECT is not set. On POSIX systems where thepwdis in/bin./bin/pwdwill use $PWD and may return paths with symlinks. GNU pwd will behave in that POSIX manner when it find a POSIXLY_CORRECT variable in its environment.
– Stéphane Chazelas
Dec 2 '12 at 20:10
add a comment |
2
The behavior you describe is the one on Linux systems where/bin/pwdis GNUpwdwhen POSIXLY_CORRECT is not set. On POSIX systems where thepwdis in/bin./bin/pwdwill use $PWD and may return paths with symlinks. GNU pwd will behave in that POSIX manner when it find a POSIXLY_CORRECT variable in its environment.
– Stéphane Chazelas
Dec 2 '12 at 20:10
2
2
The behavior you describe is the one on Linux systems where
/bin/pwd is GNU pwd when POSIXLY_CORRECT is not set. On POSIX systems where the pwd is in /bin. /bin/pwd will use $PWD and may return paths with symlinks. GNU pwd will behave in that POSIX manner when it find a POSIXLY_CORRECT variable in its environment.– Stéphane Chazelas
Dec 2 '12 at 20:10
The behavior you describe is the one on Linux systems where
/bin/pwd is GNU pwd when POSIXLY_CORRECT is not set. On POSIX systems where the pwd is in /bin. /bin/pwd will use $PWD and may return paths with symlinks. GNU pwd will behave in that POSIX manner when it find a POSIXLY_CORRECT variable in its environment.– Stéphane Chazelas
Dec 2 '12 at 20:10
add a comment |
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