chdir

chdir [directory]

chdir changes the current working directory of the shell to the specified path. It is functionally equivalent to cd and available as a builtin in zsh, csh, and tcsh.When called without arguments, it changes to the user's home directory. The CDPATH variable is searched if the specified directory is not found relative to the current directory.

chdir is not available in bash (use cd instead). For portable scripts, always use cd. The command is a shell builtin and does not exist as a standalone executable.

chdir is the original name of the directory-changing system call in Unix, dating back to the First Edition in 1971. The cd command was introduced as a shorter alias. Shells like csh (1978) and later zsh retained chdir as a builtin alongside cd.

cd(1), pushd(1), popd(1), pwd(1)