fish-shell/doc_src/cmds/cd.rst
Johannes Altmanninger 414d9a1eb1 Reference more non-fish shell builtins that have relevant differences
When writing scripts for other shells, it can be confusing and annoying
that our `man` function shadows other manual pages, for example `exec(1p)`
from [Linux man-pages]. I almost never want to see the fish variant for such
contended cases (which obviuosly don't include fish-specific commands like
`string`, only widely-known shell builtins).

For the contented cases like `exec`, the POSIX documentation is more
substantial and useful, since it describes a (sub)set of languages widely
used for scripting.

Because of this I think we should stop overriding the system's man pages.
Nowadays we offer `exec -h` as intuitive way to show the documentation for
the fish-specific command (note that `help` is not a good replacement because
it uses a web browser).

Looking through the contended commands, it seems like for most of them,
the fish version is not substantially different from the system version.
A notable exception is `read` but I don't think it's a very important one.

So I think we should can sacrifice a bit of the native fish-scripting
experience in exchange for playing nicer with other shells. I think the
latter is more important because scripting is not our focus, the way I see it.
So maybe put our manpath at the end.

In lieu of that, let's at least have `exec.rst` reference the system variant.

[Linux man-pages]: https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/

Closes #10376
2024-04-20 13:34:08 +02:00

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1.9 KiB
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.. _cmd-cd:
cd - change directory
=====================
Synopsis
--------
.. synopsis::
cd [DIRECTORY]
Description
-----------
.. only:: builder_man
NOTE: This page documents the fish builtin ``cd``.
To see the documentation on any non-fish versions, use ``command man cd``.
``cd`` changes the current working directory.
If *DIRECTORY* is given, it will become the new directory. If no parameter is given, the :envvar:`HOME` environment variable will be used.
If *DIRECTORY* is a relative path, all the paths in the :envvar:`CDPATH` will be tried as prefixes for it, in addition to :envvar:`PWD`.
It is recommended to keep **.** as the first element of :envvar:`CDPATH`, or :envvar:`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 :doc:`prevd <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
See Also
--------
Navigate directories using the :ref:`directory history <directory-history>` or the :ref:`directory stack <directory-stack>`