PWD(1) General Commands Manual PWD(1) NAME pwd -- return working directory name SYNOPSIS pwd [-L | -P] DESCRIPTION The pwd utility writes the absolute pathname of the current working direc- tory to the standard output. Some shells may provide a builtin pwd command which is similar or identical to this utility. Consult the builtin(1) manual page. The options are as follows: -L Display the logical current working directory. -P Display the physical current working directory (all symbolic links resolved). If no options are specified, the -L option is assumed. ENVIRONMENT Environment variables used by pwd: PWD Logical current working directory. EXIT STATUS The pwd utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. EXAMPLES Show current working directory with symbolic links resolved: $ /bin/pwd /usr/src/sys/kern Show the logical current directory. Then use file(1) to inspect the /sys directory: $ /bin/pwd -L /sys/kern $ file /sys /sys: symbolic link to usr/src/sys SEE ALSO builtin(1), cd(1), csh(1), realpath(1), sh(1), getcwd(3) STANDARDS The pwd utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1"). HISTORY The pwd command appeared in Version 5 AT&T UNIX. BUGS In csh(1) the command dirs is always faster because it is built into that shell. However, it can give a different answer in the rare case that the current directory or a containing directory was moved after the shell de- scended into it. The -L option does not work unless the PWD environment variable is exported by the shell. FreeBSD 15.1 Februrary 6, 2026 PWD(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | ENVIRONMENT | EXIT STATUS | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS | HISTORY | BUGS
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