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PWD(1P)                    POSIX Programmer's Manual                   PWD(1P)

PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the  corresponding
       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
       not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
       pwd - return working directory name
SYNOPSIS
       pwd [-L | -P ]
DESCRIPTION
       The pwd utility shall write to standard output an absolute 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 implementation:
       -L     If the PWD environment variable contains an absolute pathname of
              the current directory that does not contain the filenames dot or
              dot-dot,  pwd shall write this pathname to standard output. Oth-
              erwise, 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 utility 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  internationalization  variables
              that  are  unset  or  null.  (See the Base Definitions volume of
              IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section  8.2,  Internationalization  Vari-
              ables  for the precedence of internationalization variables used
              to determine the values of locale categories.)
       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 messages 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 current 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 out-
       put, 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 historical behavior
       is required here; therefore, the CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS section specif-
       ically 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  Operating  System  Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003  by  the  Institute  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.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE/The Open Group                  2003                              PWD(1P)