.. _cmd-cd:

cd - change directory
=====================

Synopsis
--------

::

    cd [DIRECTORY]

Description
-----------
``cd`` changes the current working directory.

If ``DIRECTORY`` is given, it will become the new directory. If no parameter is given, the ``$HOME`` environment variable will be used.

If ``DIRECTORY`` is a relative path, all the paths in the ``$CDPATH`` will be tried as prefixes for it, in addition to ``$PWD``. It is recommended to keep ``.`` as the first element of ``$CDPATH``, or ``$PWD`` will be tried last.

Fish will also try to change directory if given a command that looks like a directory (starting with ``.``, ``/`` or ``~``, or ending with ``/``), without explicitly requiring ``cd``.

Fish also ships a wrapper function around the builtin ``cd`` that understands ``cd -`` as changing to the previous directory. See also :ref:`prevd <cmd-prevd>`. This wrapper function maintains a history of the 25 most recently visited directories in the ``$dirprev`` and ``$dirnext`` global variables. If you make those universal variables your ``cd`` history is shared among all fish instances.

As a special case, ``cd .`` is equivalent to ``cd $PWD``, which is useful in cases where a mountpoint has been recycled or a directory has been removed and recreated.

Examples
--------

::

    cd
    # changes the working directory to your home directory.
    
    cd /usr/src/fish-shell
    # changes the working directory to /usr/src/fish-shell

See Also
--------

Navigate directories using the :ref:`directory history <directory-history>` or the :ref:`directory stack <directory-stack>`
