Navigating Directories Linked by Symlinks – Shell Tips

cd-commandshellsymlink

When I cd a link, my current path is prefixed with the link's path, rather than the path of the directory the link links to.
E.g.

~/dirlinks/maths$ ls -l logic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 tim tim 71 Jul 27 10:24 logic -> /windows-d/academic discipline/study objects/areas/formal systems/logic

~/dirlinks/maths$ cd logic
~/dirlinks/maths/logic$ pwd
/home/tim/dirlinks/maths/logic

~/dirlinks/maths/logic$ cd ..
~/dirlinks/maths$

I would like to have my current path changed to the path of the linked dir, so that I can work with the parent dirs of the linked dir as well. Besides ls the link to find out the linked dir, and then cd into it, what are some simpler ways to accomplish that? For example, after cd into a link, how do you change your current path to the path of the linked dir?

Best Answer

With POSIX shell, you can use -P option of cd builtin:

cd -P <link>

With bash, from man bash:

The -P option says to use the physical directory structure instead of following symbolic links (see also the -P option to the set builtin command)

Related Solutions

Directory – Why Can’t List File/Directory Relative to .. from a Symlink Directory

It is special behavior of bash's cd builtin; the relative file behavior is the natural one. Once you follow a symbolic link, you are in the actual path of the target and the original path information is lost; but if you use bash or zsh to cd there then the shell remembers the original path and uses it in future relative cd commands. But not in relative filename references, because bash doesn't actually know if you intended a filename or something else.

If you look at the cd documentation in bash, you'll see there are -L and -P options which tell it whether to use "logical" (remembering the original path) or "physical" (using the filesystem's idea) paths.

If you need to have the "logical" behavior at all times, you need to use a --bind mount (on Linux; Solaris and other OSes call it "loopback" or other things) instead of a symlink.

Replace symbolic link which linked to directory target

You want the -T option:

$ mkdir v1
$ ln -s v1 foo
$ ls -FlA | grep foo
lrwxrwxrwx 1 phil phil     2 2011-09-05 01:58 foo -> v1/
$ mkdir v2
$ ln -s -T -f v2 foo
$ ls -FlA | grep foo
lrwxrwxrwx 1 phil phil     2 2011-09-05 01:59 foo -> v2/

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Directory – Why Can’t List File/Directory Relative to .. from a Symlink Directory

Replace symbolic link which linked to directory target

Related Question