What does cd -- do? I used it and I'm now stuck in a directory :(

Question

I entered cd -- into the terminal, just to see what I'd get...

It brought me here: ~ # (I'm root btw).

Just wondering where exactly I am - if I enter ls the output is:

Desktop

ls -a:

.          .bash_history  .config  .loki        .q3a
..         .bazaar        .dbus    .kbd        .macromedia  .synaptic
.adobe     .bzr.log       Desktop  .panda3d     .wine
.aptitude  .cache         .gconf   .local      .profile

I can't cd into home, / or anything else - and I can't get out of the folder :'(

Would be nice to know what I just did...

@Pilot6 how do you/I know? – TellMeWhy Dec 19 '15 at 21:58 — TellMeWhy, Dec 19 '15 at 21:58
By the prompt. `~#` is `/root`. – Pilot6 Dec 19 '15 at 21:59 — Pilot6, Dec 19 '15 at 21:59
And there is no problem to do e.g. `cd /home` – Pilot6 Dec 19 '15 at 21:59 — Pilot6, Dec 19 '15 at 21:59

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

13

The -- is interpreted as "no more options following", see more in this answer. So the command is equivalent to cd, which switches to the current user's home directory.

As you reported, you end up with a prompt of ... ~ #, which, with default config means that you are logged in as the root user and that you currently are in root's home directory (~ is a shortcut for a user's home).

On a default Ubuntu setup, the home of root is /root. So cding to home doesn't work, as you are not in the root directory and therefore the shell doesn't know where to go. But you should always be able to cd /. Are you sure you entered that command correctly?

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

Community

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answered Dec 19 '15 at 22:00

s3lph

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I'm not sure your first paragraph is technically accurate . Bash doesn't "interpret" `--`, it's handled as part of the application argument parsing. – Oli Dec 19 '15 at 22:05
Of course, you're right ;) I'll change it. – s3lph Dec 19 '15 at 22:06
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@Oli's remark is 100% spot on since not clarifying that is potentially misleading, however the funny fact is that in this case it's not inaccurate to say that Bash handles it, since `cd` is a built-in (hence part of Bash). You may well say that Bash handles it, but you should also make it clear that this is because `cd` is part of Bash. – kos Dec 19 '15 at 22:27

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 20 '18 at 13:25

2

The command pwd will output your present working directory (where you are).

@pilot6 is probably right - you are in /root given your ls output.

edited Apr 20 '18 at 13:25

heemayl

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answered Dec 19 '15 at 22:02

Brian Duke

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What does cd -- do? I used it and I'm now stuck in a directory :(

2 Answers2