In terminal, how can I define a key to go to the previous directory which I was in when changing directory with the cd command?
For example, I'm in /opt/soft/bin and I cd into /etc/squid3 and I want to get back to the first directory.
asked Jun 30, 2013 at 15:43
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1Does this answer your question? What is the bash shortcut to change to the previous directory?– PeterFeb 28, 2020 at 21:01
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7 Answers
You can use
cd -
or you could use
cd "$OLDPWD"
answered Jun 30, 2013 at 15:58
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4Any idea why the directory name is printed to the console when using "cd -" ?– dtmlandAug 31, 2015 at 23:56
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11Probably since the old shells didn't display the name of the current directory in the prompt, it was helpful to see the name of the directory when you typed
cd -. For example when you typecd /usr/localyou know that you are in/usr/loal, but when you typecd -you don't always remember from which directory you came from. So it saves you from typingcd -; pwd. But this is all speculation. Sep 1, 2015 at 4:37 -
3Or you can use aliasing: Set up alias as
alias -- -='cd -'then use-(1 char) instead ofcd -(4 char). Faster:D– ADTCFeb 16, 2016 at 4:38 -
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1@AndréKuhlmann You can do
cd -twice. Docd /; cd /usr; cd -; cd -you should be in/usr. But maybe I miss understood your question. Jan 7, 2019 at 19:42
The other answers are definitely complete in the direct answer sense. cd - and cd $OLDPWD are definitely the main choices for this. However, I often find that getting into a workflow with pushd and popd works better.
Long story short, if you are moving into a directory with the ultimate intent of coming back to where you started, use pushd/popd.
Extended example
The major difference is easily shown by an example.
$ cd dir1
$ pushd dir2
At this point, you have a directory stack that is dir2, dir1. Running pushd with no arguments will put you back in dir1 with the stack now as dir1, dir2. popd would do the same, but would leave you with an empty directory stack. This is not much different than how you would have been with the cd - workflow.
However, now you can now change directories multiple times and get back to dir1. For example,
$ cd dir1
$ pushd dir2
$ cd dir3
If you run popd at this point, you will go back to dir1.
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2You can also stack directories, so repeatedly use
pushdand go back to previous folder whilepopd-ing.– BernhardJun 30, 2013 at 19:08 -
1Certainly. I almost put a large example that included checking the stack with
dirs -v, but the reality for me is that often the simple case is all I really use. (Or, worse, I make a mistake when tryingpush +2or similar) Also, I thought baby steps for getting someone to try the workflow. :) Jul 1, 2013 at 2:53 -
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Do you need to use
popdat all? Could you not justcdandpushdeverywhere? Are there any disadvantages to doing so? Nov 12, 2019 at 16:35 -
@Prometheus, if just CD around you also don't need to push. The idea is to retrieve the position later with pop.– The FoolAug 18, 2020 at 15:27
You should use:
cd ~-
it does the same as cd - (from the currently accepted answer) without the annoying echo of the directory and is easier to type than cd "$OLDPWD" or cd - > /dev/null.
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2
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2The echo shows the new directory not the previous one. And I would find it useful, so that I know where I am now, especially if I'm in a shell that only shows the current directory name (or nothing at all) on the prompt, and I'm too unbothered to change the prompt to show the full path. Of course, if your prompt already shows the full path, the echo would be redundant and annoying. In that case, I think you can try doing
alias -- -='cd "$OLDPWD"'then using-(1 char) instead ofcd ~-(5 char).:)– ADTCFeb 16, 2016 at 4:37 -
Source and explanation: unix.stackexchange.com/a/330885/38213 Spoilers, - is an operand and ~'s are path aliases. So
cd ~-/..works butcd -/..does not!– Ray FossJun 7, 2019 at 14:27 -
Why does this work? Where can I find the documentation? It’s not on the
--help. Jun 24, 2021 at 6:56
$ cd -
will change to the previous working directory.
You can "define a key" for cd - by editing your ~/.bashrc file and including an alias for the command. For example you could add cdc to make it cd - which would provide you with a shorter way to get to the last directory by adding:
alias cdc='cd -'
This way you would simply type cdc and it would put you in your last working directory.
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7And confuse you to no end when you use a system where that alias isn't in place. It saves typing one character every once in a while. Why even bother?– userJul 1, 2013 at 14:16
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2"In terminal, how can I define a key to go to the previous directory" I never get confused. Its just a shortcut, when you are on another system just use the long-hand way.– Atari911Jul 1, 2013 at 19:25
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@Atari911 great question! here's the answer: stackoverflow.com/questions/4200800 Here's what I did (bound F12):
bind '"\e[24~":"\C-k \C-ucd -\n"'(or more preferably move it toinputrcfile as mentioned in the answer).– ADTCFeb 16, 2016 at 5:00
cd .. goes to the precedent folder in the folder's tree.
cd - goes to the folder which it was before. This command didn't work on some distros (ubuntu 16.04), works in debian 9.
I find the combination of fzf and dirs to be powerful for quickly navigating to any previously visited directory. fzf helps me sift through my directory history as dirs helps me list the directories on the directory stack.
I define the following alias called ch as follows:
alias ch="cd \$(dirs -pl | fzf)"
Now, if you type ch in the terminal you will see the following, and you can select the directory you want to move into.
