$ cd
Change the shell's current working directory
DOCUMENTEDNavigationUbuntu 24.04 LTS baseline
Synopsis
cd [-L|[-P [-e]] [-@]] [directory]What it does
- `cd` is normally a shell builtin because changing directory must affect the current shell process.
- Behavior is therefore tied to the shell you are using; the examples here target Bash.
Examples
Enter a directory
cd /var/logGo to your home directory
cdGo up one level
cd ..Important details
These examples are intentionally conservative. Command behavior can still depend on filesystem state, permissions, locale, shell, installed package version, and other system configuration.
For exact option semantics, the linked authoritative documentation is the source of truth.