pwd(1)

NAME

pwd — working directory name

SYNOPSIS

pwd [-L|-P]

DESCRIPTION

pwd prints the path name of the working (current) directory.

Options

pwd recognizes the following options:

-L

Display the directory with the name of the symbolic link if any.

If the PWD environment variable contains an absolute path name of the current directory that does not contain the file names . (dot) or .. (dot-dot), pwd writes this path name to standard output. Otherwise, the -L option behaves like the -P option.

-P

Display the actual physical directory path. Directories of symbolic link types are not displayed.

If both -L and -P are specified, the last one applies. If neither -L nor -P is specified, the default option is:

-L, from UNIX 2003 environment onwards; see standards(5).
-P, otherwise.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

For information about the UNIX Standard environment, see standards(5).

Environment Variables

LC_MESSAGES determines the language in which messages are displayed.

If LC_MESSAGES is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the value of LANG is used as a default for each unspecified or empty variable. If LANG is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of LANG.

If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, pwd behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C". See environ(5).

International Code Set Support

Single- and multibyte character code sets are supported.

DIAGNOSTICS

Cannot open ..
Read error in ..: Possible file system trouble; contact system administrator.
pwd: cannot access parent directories: Current directory has been removed (usually by a different process). Use cd command to move to a valid directory (see cd(1)).

EXAMPLES

If your home directory is /mnt/staff and the command cd camp/nevada is executed from the home directory, typing pwd produces the following display:

/mnt/staff/camp/nevada 

In the following example, a symbolic link, /mnt/vts/symdir, points to the /mnt/vts/realdir directory. Then the pwd -P command displays the actual directory:

$ cd /mnt/vts/symdir 
$ /usr/bin/pwd -P 
/mnt/vts/realdir 

The pwd -L command displays the directory with the symbolic link:

$ cd /mnt/vts/symdir 
$ /usr/bin/pwd -L 
/mnt/vts/symdir 

In the following example, there is no symbolic link. The displayed directory is the same for both the -L and -P options.

$ mkdir /mnt/vts/onedir 
$ /usr/bin/pwd -L 
/mnt/vts/onedir 
  
$ /usr/bin/pwd -P 
/mnt/vts/onedir 

AUTHOR

pwd was developed by AT&T and HP.

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

pwd: SVID2, SVID3, XPG2, XPG3, XPG4, POSIX.2