Unix terminal, "cd .." for a specific number of directories

Question

Let's suppose we have this directory structure:

/home/myuser/dir_1/sub_1/sub_2/sub_3

and I want to traverse from sub_3 to dir_1, what I need to do is

cd ../../..

My question is, isn't there something shorter? I mean something like:

cd -t 3

where you can tell the shell how many directories you want to go back.

dup: http://superuser.com/questions/281797/is-there-a-command-for-going-back-a-number-of-steps-in-a-directory-without-usin/281799 — Karoly Horvath, Jan 13 '17 at 14:31

bishop · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-13T23:50:49.323

4

Build the path using printf then cd to it:

cdup() {
    # $1=number of times, defaults to 1
    local path
    printf -v path '%*s' "${1:-1}"
    cd "${path// /../}"
}

Use as:

cdup 4 # to go up four directories
cdup 1 # to explicitly go up one directory
cdup   # to implicitly go up one

Has the nice property that cd is called once, regardless of how big N is.

edited Jan 13 '17 at 23:50

answered Jan 13 '17 at 14:48

bishop

1

Winner because of the "cd is called once". Added to my .bash_profile (I have a mac, should be .bashrc for unix/linux users) and it works like a charm. My '.' key thanks you @bishop. – aldebaran-ms Jan 13 '17 at 22:43

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 13 '17 at 14:31

1

for i in {0..2}; do cd ..; done

answered Jan 13 '17 at 14:31

chris01

3

This is *more* characters than `cd ../../..` -- defeats the point, no? – Charles Duffy Jan 13 '17 at 19:20

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 13 '17 at 14:49

1

cd ~/dir_1

Should do the same as well. Of course, that only works when you are going somewhere in your home directory....

answered Jan 13 '17 at 14:49

ivanivan

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

0

I just a couple of weeks ago made a Zsh completion function to do this. The answer is here.

It allows you to type cd ..... then hit tab (or return) to expand the dots into the relevant number of directories.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

Community

answered Jan 13 '17 at 14:53

Paul Ruane

V. Michel · Answer 5 · 2017-01-13T23:48:59.803

0

You can put cdup in your .bashrc

 alias cdup='_(){ a=$1;while ((a--));do cd ..;done;};_'

Or

cdup() { a=$1;while ((a--));do cd ..;done; }

Test to make two cd ..

cdup 2

edited Jan 13 '17 at 23:48

answered Jan 13 '17 at 19:03

V. Michel

1

Why would you write this as an alias enclosing a temporary function rather than just creating a function? – Charles Duffy Jan 13 '17 at 19:19
@Charles Duffy. I use a temporary function inside alias because it's easier to program. – V. Michel Jan 13 '17 at 19:41
1

`cdup() { a=$1;while ((a--));do cd ..;done; }` is *harder* to write than `alias cdup='_(){ a=$1;while ((a--));do cd ..;done;};_'`? How so? – Charles Duffy Jan 13 '17 at 21:43
@Charles Duffy. Your solution doesn't work inside .bashrc (alias cdup=...). – V. Michel Jan 13 '17 at 23:44
Untrue; function definitions are **absolutely** supported inside `.bashrc`. There's no need to use the `alias` keyword at all. – Charles Duffy Jan 13 '17 at 23:45
Moreover, unlike an alias, you can export a function to the environment, thereby making it available to subprocesses. – Charles Duffy Jan 13 '17 at 23:46
@Charles Duffy. Ok its work like function definitions inside .bashrc. Thank's a lot. – V. Michel Jan 13 '17 at 23:47

5 Answers5