How to navigate to a directory in C:\ with Cygwin?

Question

I'm trying to install PyQt4 so I can mess around with it. The installation guide said I had to install Sip. The last step to installing Sip is to use the make install command. Windows doesn't have that, so I looked it up and everything I saw said to install Cygwin. So I did. But...sip is in C:\Python31\sip.

Can I run this from the Cygwin command? If so, how would I do that?

Or can I run this from the normal windows command prompt? If so, how would I go about that?

score 825 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 05 '09 at 02:33

825

Use:

cd /cygdrive/c

answered Dec 05 '09 at 02:33

Otávio Décio

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You may also use `cd c:/` – ihaveitnow Aug 16 '15 at 17:04
1

and make sure there is no space in and after `/cygdrive/c` – DeltaCap019 Oct 12 '16 at 13:37

score 213 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 30 '16 at 17:54

213

I'll add something that helps me out a lot with cygwin. Whenever setting up a new system, I always do this

ln -s /cygdrive/c /c

This creates a symbolic link to /cygdrive/c with a new file called /c (in the home directory)

Then you can do this in your shell

cd /c/Foo
cd /c/

Very handy.

edited Jun 30 '16 at 17:54

CodyBugstein

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answered Dec 05 '09 at 03:04

karoberts

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Note that this prevents you from having files/directories named `c` with the ability of referencing them normally. – Raj Sep 30 '16 at 14:54
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I recently installed MSYS2 and this was the default behavior, with `/cygdrive` in-fact not working... – itsmejoeeey Sep 20 '17 at 01:11

score 142 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 28 '13 at 03:24

142

cd c: is supported now in cygwin

edited Mar 28 '13 at 03:24

p.s.w.g

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answered Mar 28 '13 at 02:51

netawater

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Valid for `cd e:` and prompt will be `/cygdrive/e` – Kiquenet Apr 04 '17 at 21:28

score 54 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 05 '09 at 02:38

54

You already accepted an answer, but I just thought I'd mention that the following also works in Cygwin:

cd "C:\Foo"

I think the cd /cygdrive/c method is better, but sometimes it's useful to know that you can do this too.

answered Dec 05 '09 at 02:38

Mark Byers

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score 12 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 09 '18 at 02:15

12

You can just use

cd C:/Users/../..

edited Jun 09 '18 at 02:15

Pang

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answered Apr 20 '16 at 19:05

Praveen Kishor

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score 6 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 12 '14 at 09:45

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As you'll probably want to do this often, add aliases into your .bashrc file, like:

alias cdc='cd /cygdrive/c'
alias cdp='cd /cygdrive/p'

Then you can just type on the command line:

cdc

answered Feb 12 '14 at 09:45

Ellis

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score 3 · Answer 7 · edited Jan 18 '16 at 10:50

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Define a variable in .bashrc :

export C=/cygdrive/c

then you can use

cd $C/

and the tab autocompletes correctly (please include the / at the end)

edited Jan 18 '16 at 10:50

Muhammed Refaat

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answered Mar 18 '14 at 23:18

Paco Zarate

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score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 12 '13 at 15:10

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On a related note, you may also like:

shopt -s autocd

This allows you to cd a dir by just typing in the dir

[user@host ~]$ /cygdrive/d
cd /cygdrive/d
[user@host /cygdrive/d]$

To make is persistent you should add it to your ~/.bashrc

answered Apr 12 '13 at 15:10

Benjamin Goodacre

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score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 13 '13 at 09:39

1

you can try this

/cygdrive/c/directoryname

edited Jun 13 '13 at 09:39

CloudyMarble

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answered Jun 13 '13 at 09:20

tionne jones

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score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 06 '17 at 22:59

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The one I like is: cd C:

To have linux like feel then do:

ln -s /cygdrive/c/folder ~/folder

and use this like: ~/folder/..

answered Oct 06 '17 at 22:59

John Tribe

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score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 09 '18 at 00:13

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$cd C:\

> (Press enter when you see this line)

You are now in the C drive.

answered Jun 09 '18 at 00:13

wwei23

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The `>` is because the backslash at the end of the line escaped the newline... – Gert van den Berg May 11 '20 at 17:02

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered May 24 '16 at 11:11

Create a file named "overrideBashCdForWindowsPaths" in your HOME folder. Paste the following lines into that file and save it:

#!/bin/bash

function cd() {
    CD_PATH="$(history | tail -1 | sed -e "s,.*${FUNCNAME[0]}\s*,,g")"

    if [ -z "${CD_PATH}" -o "${CD_PATH}" = "~" ]; then
        CD_PATH="${HOME}"
    fi

    builtin cd "$(cygpath "$CD_PATH")"
}

Next, type the following command in a terminal, while you are in your HOME folder:

echo ". overrideBashCdForWindowsPaths" >> .bashrc

Close your terminal and open a new one. You can now easily change into that Windows folder by simply typing

cd C:\Python31\sip

The script reads the last command, extracts the path and passes it to Cygwin's path-conversion tool. By naming the function "cd" we sort of 'override' Bash's builtin "cd" and delegate the actual call to it in the very last line.

Thanks @KoenigGunther, it works! But a little bit slow though for changing directory. Is there a way to make it faster just like using quote? e.g. `cd "C:\Python31\sip"` — , Jan 22 '20 at 23:33

score 0 · Answer 13 · edited Jul 27 '17 at 10:43

Something that is worth mentioning here is that Cygwin's cygpath, still does not handle spaced Windows paths properly, especially in Bash scripts running under Cygwin. The trick is to understand how Cygwin interprets quotes in Bash scripts.

The following does not work:

#!/bin/bash
TBDIR="/cygdrive/c/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/MyDir/"

if [ -d "${TBDIR}" ]; then 
    echo "Found MyDir directory at: ${TBDIR}"
    cd "$TBDIR"
else 
    echo "MyDir program directory not found!"
    echo "Wrong DIR path: ${TBDIR}"
    exit 1
fi

But this does work:

#!/bin/bash
# Cygwin-ism: No quotes!
TBDIR=/cygdrive/c/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/MyDir/

if [ -d "${TBDIR}" ]; then 
...

As far as I know, there is currently no known workaround using cygpath, that can properly handle spaces in the bash scripting context but you can use quotes in your scripts.

How to navigate to a directory in C:\ with Cygwin?

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