NAME

pwd — print working directory

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Writes the path to the current working directory, followed by a newline, to the standard output stream. This path is partially canonical — it doesn't contain . nor .. components.

OPTIONS

-L, --logical

Use the PWD environment variable, if partially canonical and refers to the current working directory. If not, fall back to -P. This is the default.

-P, --physical

Just fully canonicalise the current working directory.

ENVIRONMENT

PWD

Used if valid and -L.

EXIT STATUS

1 if the working directory no longer exists.

EXAMPLES

$ pwd
/home/cicada
$ pwd -P
/usr/home/cicada

$ PWD=/home/cicada//gachi/gachi/ pwd
/home/cicada//gachi/gachi/
$ pwd -P
/usr/home/cicada/gachi
$ PWD=/home/cicada/./gachi/gachi/ pwd
/usr/home/cicada/gachi
$ PWD=/ENOENT pwd
/usr/home/cicada/gachi

SEE ALSO

getcwd(3), environ(8)

You should prefer the PWD environment variable if you don't need -P.

STANDARDS

Conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2024 (“POSIX.1”).

HISTORY

Appears in Version 5 AT&T UNIX, with no arguments, as pwd(I):

X/Open Portability Guide Issue 2 (“XPG2”) standardises it verbatim.

Version 3 of the Single UNIX Specification (“SUSv3”) adds -LP, as present-day, quoting a IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”) draft.