OLDPWD (path)

Return the home directory for the current session user

Description

OLDPWD return the previous directory.

This variable exists to support POSIX, however the idiomatic way to access this same data is via $PWDHIST.

This is a reserved variable so it cannot be changed.

Detail

Comparison With PWDHIST

PWDHIST is an array that holds the entire PWD history rather than just the previously accessed path.

OLDPWD reads PWDHIST, so if PWDHIST is overwritten, this will affect the value of OLDPWD as well.

Error Handling

If a previous directory cannot be determined, then OLDPWD will error. For example:

» cd $OLDPWD
Error in `cd` (0,1): cannot assign value to $OLDPWD: already at oldest entry in $PWDHIST
                   > Expression: cd $OLDPWD
                   >           :          ^
                   > Character : 9

See Also

• Reserved Variables: Special variables reserved by Murex
• PWDHIST (json): History of each change to the sessions working directory
• PWD (path): Current working directory
• path: Structured object for working with file and directory paths

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This document was generated from gen/variables/OLDPWD_doc.yaml.