pwd Command: Tutorial & Examples

Print the current working directory

The pwd command is a Linux utility that stands for "print working directory." It is used to display the full path of the current working directory (also known as the "current directory") in the file system.

When you open a terminal window and start working on the command line, you are placed in a specific directory, which is known as your current working directory. You can navigate to different directories and perform various file management tasks using commands such as cd, ls, and mkdir. The pwd command allows you to see the full path of the current working directory at any time.

To use the pwd command, simply type pwd and press Enter. The full path of the current working directory will be displayed on the command line.

Here's an example of using the pwd command:

pwd
/home/user/documents

In this example, the output shows that the current working directory is /home/user/documents.

The pwd command is a simple but useful tool that is available on most Linux distributions. It can be helpful when you want to see the location of the current working directory or when you want to reference a file or directory using its full path.