pwd(P)                                                   pwd(P)





NAME
       pwd - return working directory name

SYNOPSIS
       pwd [-L | -P ]

DESCRIPTION
       The  pwd utility shall write to standard output an abso-
       lute pathname of the current  working  directory,  which
       does not contain the filenames dot or dot-dot.

OPTIONS
       The  pwd  utility  shall conform to the Base Definitions
       volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,  Section  12.2,  Utility
       Syntax Guidelines.

       The  following  options shall be supported by the imple-
       mentation:

       -L     If the PWD environment variable contains an abso-
              lute  pathname of the current directory that does
              not contain the filenames  dot  or  dot-dot,  pwd
              shall  write  this  pathname  to standard output.
              Otherwise, the -L option shall behave as  the  -P
              option.

       -P     The  absolute  pathname written shall not contain
              filenames that, in the context of  the  pathname,
              refer to files of type symbolic link.


       If  both  -L  and  -P  are specified, the last one shall
       apply.  If neither -L nor -P is specified, the pwd util-
       ity shall behave as if -L had been specified.

OPERANDS
       None.

STDIN
       Not used.

INPUT FILES
       None.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The  following  environment  variables  shall affect the
       execution of pwd:

       LANG   Provide a default value for the internationaliza-
              tion  variables  that are unset or null. (See the
              Base Definitions volume of  IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
              Section  8.2,  Internationalization Variables for
              the precedence of internationalization  variables
              used  to  determine  the  values  of locale cate-
              gories.)

       LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override  the
              values  of  all  the  other  internationalization
              variables.

       LC_MESSAGES
              Determine the  locale  that  should  be  used  to
              affect the format and contents of diagnostic mes-
              sages written to standard error.

       NLSPATH
              Determine the location of  message  catalogs  for
              the processing of LC_MESSAGES .

       PWD    If  the  -P  option  is  in effect, this variable
              shall be set to an absolute pathname of the  cur-
              rent  working directory that does not contain any
              components that specify symbolic links, does  not
              contain any components that are dot, and does not
              contain any components that are  dot-dot.  If  an
              application sets or unsets the value of PWD , the
              behavior of pwd is unspecified.


ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.

STDOUT
       The pwd utility output is an absolute  pathname  of  the
       current working directory:


              "%s\n", <directory pathname>

STDERR
       The  standard  error  shall  be used only for diagnostic
       messages.

OUTPUT FILES
       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.

EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values shall be returned:

        0     Successful completion.

       >0     An error occurred.


CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       If an error is detected, output shall not be written  to
       standard  output,  a diagnostic message shall be written
       to standard error, and the exit status is not zero.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE
       None.

EXAMPLES
       None.

RATIONALE
       Some implementations have historically provided pwd as a
       shell special built-in command.

       In  most  utilities,  if an error occurs, partial output
       may be written to standard output. This does not  happen
       in  historical  implementations  of  pwd. Because pwd is
       frequently used  in  historical  shell  scripts  without
       checking  the exit status, it is important that the his-
       torical behavior is required here; therefore, the CONSE-
       QUENCES  OF  ERRORS  section  specifically disallows any
       partial output being written to standard output.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.

SEE ALSO
       cd    ,    the    System    Interfaces     volume     of
       IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, getcwd()

COPYRIGHT
       Portions  of  this  text are reprinted and reproduced in
       electronic form from  IEEE  Std  1003.1,  2003  Edition,
       Standard  for Information Technology -- Portable Operat-
       ing System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Speci-
       fications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Insti-
       tute of Electrical and Electronics  Engineers,  Inc  and
       The  Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between
       this version and the original IEEE and  The  Open  Group
       Standard,  the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
       is the referee document. The original  Standard  can  be
       obtained        online        at        http://www.open-
       group.org/unix/online.html .



POSIX                         2003                       pwd(P)
