1PWD(P) POSIX Programmer's Manual PWD(P)
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6 pwd - return working directory name
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9 pwd [-L | -P ]
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12 The pwd utility shall write to standard output an absolute pathname of
13 the current working directory, which does not contain the filenames dot
14 or dot-dot.
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17 The pwd utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
18 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
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20 The following options shall be supported by the implementation:
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22 -L If the PWD environment variable contains an absolute pathname of
23 the current directory that does not contain the filenames dot or
24 dot-dot, pwd shall write this pathname to standard output. Oth‐
25 erwise, the -L option shall behave as the -P option.
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27 -P The absolute pathname written shall not contain filenames that,
28 in the context of the pathname, refer to files of type symbolic
29 link.
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32 If both -L and -P are specified, the last one shall apply. If neither
33 -L nor -P is specified, the pwd utility shall behave as if -L had been
34 specified.
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37 None.
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40 Not used.
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43 None.
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46 The following environment variables shall affect the execution of pwd:
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48 LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization variables
49 that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of
50 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari‐
51 ables for the precedence of internationalization variables used
52 to determine the values of locale categories.)
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54 LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all
55 the other internationalization variables.
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57 LC_MESSAGES
58 Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format
59 and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
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61 NLSPATH
62 Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
63 LC_MESSAGES .
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65 PWD If the -P option is in effect, this variable shall be set to an
66 absolute pathname of the current working directory that does not
67 contain any components that specify symbolic links, does not
68 contain any components that are dot, and does not contain any
69 components that are dot-dot. If an application sets or unsets
70 the value of PWD , the behavior of pwd is unspecified.
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74 Default.
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77 The pwd utility output is an absolute pathname of the current working
78 directory:
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81 "%s\n", <directory pathname>
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84 The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
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87 None.
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90 None.
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93 The following exit values shall be returned:
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95 0 Successful completion.
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97 >0 An error occurred.
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101 If an error is detected, output shall not be written to standard out‐
102 put, a diagnostic message shall be written to standard error, and the
103 exit status is not zero.
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105 The following sections are informative.
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108 None.
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111 None.
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114 Some implementations have historically provided pwd as a shell special
115 built-in command.
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117 In most utilities, if an error occurs, partial output may be written to
118 standard output. This does not happen in historical implementations of
119 pwd. Because pwd is frequently used in historical shell scripts without
120 checking the exit status, it is important that the historical behavior
121 is required here; therefore, the CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS section specif‐
122 ically disallows any partial output being written to standard output.
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125 None.
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128 cd , the System Interfaces volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, getcwd()
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131 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
132 from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
133 -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
134 Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
135 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
136 event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
137 The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
138 is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
139 at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
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143IEEE/The Open Group 2003 PWD(P)