PWD(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual PWD(1P)
PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the correspond-
ing Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
pwd - return working directory name
SYNOPSIS
pwd [-L | -P ]
DESCRIPTION
The pwd utility shall write to standard output an absolute pathname of the current working directory, which does not contain the filenames
dot or dot-dot.
OPTIONS
The pwd utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
The following options shall be supported by the implementation:
-L If the PWD environment variable contains an absolute pathname of the current directory that does not contain the filenames dot or
dot-dot, pwd shall write this pathname to standard output. Otherwise, the -L option shall behave as the -P option.
-P The absolute pathname written shall not contain filenames that, in the context of the pathname, refer to files of type symbolic
link.
If both -L and -P are specified, the last one shall apply. If neither -L nor -P is specified, the pwd utility shall behave as if -L had
been specified.
OPERANDS
None.
STDIN
Not used.
INPUT FILES
None.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables shall affect the execution of pwd:
LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to
determine the values of locale categories.)
LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables.
LC_MESSAGES
Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
NLSPATH
Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES .
PWD If the -P option is in effect, this variable shall be set to an absolute pathname of the current working directory that does not
contain any components that specify symbolic links, does not contain any components that are dot, and does not contain any compo-
nents that are dot-dot. If an application sets or unsets the value of PWD, the behavior of pwd is unspecified.
ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
Default.
STDOUT
The pwd utility output is an absolute pathname of the current working directory:
"%s
", <directory pathname>
STDERR
The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
OUTPUT FILES
None.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
None.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values shall be returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
If an error is detected, output shall not be written to standard output, a diagnostic message shall be written to standard error, and the
exit status is not zero.
The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
None.
EXAMPLES
None.
RATIONALE
Some implementations have historically provided pwd as a shell special built-in command.
In most utilities, if an error occurs, partial output may be written to standard output. This does not happen in historical implementations
of pwd. Because pwd is frequently used in historical shell scripts without checking the exit status, it is important that the historical
behavior is required here; therefore, the CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS section specifically disallows any partial output being written to stan-
dard output.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
cd, the System Interfaces volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, getcwd()
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technol-
ogy -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE
and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained
online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
IEEE
/The Open Group 2003 PWD(1P)