# cd - change directory

## Synopsis

    cd [( -L | --no-dereference ) | ( -P | --dereference )] [DIRECTORY]

## Description

`cd` changes the current working directory.

The `PWD` environment variable is updated with the new working directory, and the previous directory is added to the directory history.

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.

The new directory name is partially resolved to remove redundant segments (`.` or `..`).

`cd` defaults to treating symbolic links as real directories, and not resolving them to their underlying targets. The `$PWD` special variable variable will contain the path that was supplied. This default behaviour can be enforced with the `-L` or `--no-dereference` option.

The `-P` or `--dereference` option resolves all symbolic links first. This was the default in fish versions before 3.0.0.

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 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.

The --help or -h option displays help about using this command, and does not change the directory.

## Examples

    cd
    # changes the working directory to your home directory.

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

    cd -P /tmp/link
    # resolves /tmp/link to its target before recording the directory

## See Also

Navigate directories using the directory history or the directory stack