cd / pwd

cd [directory]   # Change to the specified directory
pwd              # Print the full path of the current directory

Command / Notation	Description
cd directory	Changes to the specified directory.
cd	With no arguments, changes to the home directory ($HOME).
cd ~	Changes to the home directory. Equivalent to cd with no arguments.
cd -	Returns to the previous directory. Useful for toggling between two directories.
cd ..	Moves up one level to the parent directory.
cd ../..	Moves up two directory levels.
pwd	Prints the absolute path of the current working directory to standard output.
pwd -L	Prints the logical path without resolving symbolic links (default behavior).
pwd -P	Prints the physical path with all symbolic links resolved.

The following examples use this directory structure.

Change to the home directory and check the current location.

cd
pwd
/home/user

Change to /var/log using an absolute path.

cd /var/log
pwd
/var/log

Move up one directory level.

cd ..
pwd
/var

Use $ cd - to return to the previous directory. This is handy when you need to switch back and forth between two directories.

cd -
/var/log
cd -
/var

Navigate using a relative path from the home directory.

cd ~/Documents/Projects
pwd
/home/user/Documents/Projects

Move up two directory levels.

cd ../..
pwd
/home/user

$ cd - toggles between the current directory and the previous one. It is extremely convenient when you need to switch back and forth between two directories during a work session. The previous directory is stored in the environment variable $OLDPWD.

$ pwd is a shell built-in, but an external command (/bin/pwd) also exists. Their behavior can differ under symbolic links, so in scripts it is safer to use $ pwd -P to obtain the physical path.

To list the contents of a directory, use ls.