Navigation Commands

cd — Change directory

cd [dir]

Usage	Result
cd	Go to home directory ($HOME)
cd /path/to/dir	Go to absolute path
cd relative/path	Go to relative path
cd -	Go to previous directory ($OLDPWD)
cd ..	Go up one level
cd ~/projects	Tilde expands to home

tip

cd - is a quick toggle between two directories — great when bouncing between source and output dirs.

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pwd — Print working directory

pwd

Prints the absolute path of the current directory.

$ pwd
/home/user/projects/xshell

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ls — List directory contents

ls [-a] [-l] [path ...]

Flag	Description
-a / --all	Show hidden files (starting with .)
-l	Long format — shows size and type indicator

Directories are shown in blue, executables in green (Unix only).

ls               # short listing of current dir
ls -la           # long listing including hidden
ls -l ~/Desktop  # long listing of another path
ls src tests     # list multiple directories

note

dir is an alias for ls and accepts the same flags.

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Default aliases for navigation

These aliases are pre-configured in the default config:

..    # cd ..
...   # cd ../..
ll    # ls -l
la    # ls -a
lla   # ls -la