How to change the value of ~

Question

by default ~ is given the value of /home/username/

i.e. If I use the command cd ~ it goes to the directory /home/username/

How to change the value of it to some other file such as /home/username/filename?

I do know that this can be dangerous, I am working on a CTF though, so it is fine.

Bad idea, that will break stuff. If you want: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/103666/is-it-possible-to-redefine-the-tilde-home-directory — Tim, Aug 26 '14 at 11:08
Do you want to move your user home directory to another location? Otherwise I don't see what the purpose of your endeavour would be. You could set the environment variable `HOME` to something else, but that will break stuff… badly. — David Foerster, Aug 26 '14 at 11:09
I am aware of it I just need the command :) I won't use it to break any thing I am working on a CTF :) — Tummala Dhanvi, Aug 26 '14 at 11:11
@EricWilson From OP's comment on Tim's post, I guess it is "Capture the Flag". Perhaps OP is participating in some Unix golf contest. — muru, Aug 26 '14 at 19:34
Ya CTF means Capture the flag, I am participating in a Security contest :) — Tummala Dhanvi, Aug 28 '14 at 12:17

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

The tilde (~) is interpreted by your shell, as a short form of $HOME.

Try the following commands:
echo ~
HOME=foo
echo ~
This should first print your real home directory and afterwards "foo", as you set $HOME` to that.

The default value of $HOME comes from you system configuration. Use getent passwd to list all known users and their home directories. Depending on your system configuration those entries might come from /etc/passwd or any remote directory service.

If you only want to temporarily redefine your home directory, just set another $HOME.

If you permanently want to change it you have to change the passwd entry, e.g. by manually editing /etc/passwd.

Taken from this U&L question.

Tq I have got the flag in ctf :) from the link you suggested me is unix stack exchange form :) which is same as the answer :) — Tummala Dhanvi, Aug 26 '14 at 11:17

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

3

Try to change the $HOME variable , because tilde (~) is a short form of $HOME, or change your user's home directory in /etc/passwd but that's not recommended.

Why you don't try to make and alias for cd /home/username/filename like this:

alias documents='cd ~/Documents'

Now when you type documents it will change to /home/user/Documents

More info in man alias.

To make that alias permanent, check this question.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Aug 26 '14 at 11:13

nux

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Where would you put the alias? Because if I put it in `/`, it only works (`cd aliasname`) when I am there, etc. I can't put it everywhere. – Tim Aug 26 '14 at 11:13
I didn't get what you are saying, can you explain it in more detail – Tummala Dhanvi Aug 26 '14 at 11:18
In your .bashrc file in /home/username – John Kirchner Aug 26 '14 at 11:19
Can you [edit] it to explain how to do this? To me an alias is a symbolic link (made with the `ln` command. – Tim Aug 26 '14 at 11:20
you can search @Tim i posted alias man page !!! – nux Aug 26 '14 at 11:22
Then this comment applies: Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, [it would be preferable](http://meta.stackexchange.com/q/8259) to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. – Tim Aug 26 '14 at 11:22
at least i didn't copy and paste . – nux Aug 26 '14 at 11:26
1

I referenced, and I gave a good answer - http://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/11720/what-to-do-if-the-good-answer-is-in-another-question – Tim Aug 26 '14 at 11:36

How to change the value of ~

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