Windows shell command to get the full path to the current directory?

Question

Is there a Windows command line command that I can use to get the full path to the current working directory?

Also, how can I store this path inside a variable used in a batch file?

find /dir/to/start/from -type f -ls This format the date to numeric find /dir/to/start/from -type f -exec ls -l --time-style="+ %Y %m %e %H:%M" {} \; — , May 07 '12 at 00:54

score 556 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:37

556

Use cd with no arguments if you're using the shell directly, or %cd% if you want to use it in a batch file (it behaves like an environment variable).

edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:37

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 03 '09 at 19:05

Trevor Bramble

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*How did* you understand what he was trying to say from *that* ? And, under dos and windows cmd, its usually just "cd" – Rook Mar 03 '09 at 19:08
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Honestly, I couldn't think of anything else they might be trying to ask as the question stated. – Trevor Bramble Mar 03 '09 at 19:11
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Can I store this path inside a variable in a .bat file? – user62958 Mar 03 '09 at 19:17
@unknown - you might be better off by describing the original problem in the first place. – Rook Mar 03 '09 at 19:20

score 128 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 03 '16 at 03:11

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You can set a batch/environment variable as follows:

SET var=%cd%
ECHO %var%

sample screenshot from a Windows 7 x64 cmd.exe.

enter image description here

Update: if you do a SET var = %cd% instead of SET var=%cd% , below is what happens. Thanks to jeb.

enter image description here

Capturing the current directory from a batch file

edited Jun 03 '16 at 03:11

answered Jul 04 '13 at 08:13

gmaran23

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According to the question, this answer should actually be the accepted one. – René Nyffenegger Jul 04 '13 at 08:24
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But it doesn't work, as `SET var = %cd%` put the value in the variable `var` not into `var`. You should avoid spaces in the SET command – jeb Jul 04 '13 at 08:47
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According to the question, this answer should actually be the accepted one. – Shridutt Kothari Apr 28 '16 at 09:41

score 59 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 03 '16 at 03:10

Quote the Windows help for the set command (set /?):

If Command Extensions are enabled, then there are several dynamic
environment variables that can be expanded but which don't show up in
the list of variables displayed by SET.  These variable values are
computed dynamically each time the value of the variable is expanded.
If the user explicitly defines a variable with one of these names, then
that definition will override the dynamic one described below:

%CD% - expands to the current directory string.

%DATE% - expands to current date using same format as DATE command.

%TIME% - expands to current time using same format as TIME command.

%RANDOM% - expands to a random decimal number between 0 and 32767.

%ERRORLEVEL% - expands to the current ERRORLEVEL value

%CMDEXTVERSION% - expands to the current Command Processor Extensions
    version number.

%CMDCMDLINE% - expands to the original command line that invoked the
    Command Processor.

Note the %CD% - expands to the current directory string. part.

score 36 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 03 '09 at 19:06

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On Unix?

pwd

answered Mar 03 '09 at 19:06

Stephen Curial

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OP originally asked for a "command" and didn't specify OS. OS has now been specified so this answer is no longer relevant. – Tisch Dec 28 '16 at 16:13

score 34 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 03 '13 at 00:48

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This has always worked for me:

SET CurrentDir="%~dp0"

ECHO The current file path this bat file is executing in is the following:

ECHO %CurrentDir%

Pause

edited Mar 03 '13 at 00:48

Danny Beckett

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answered Mar 03 '13 at 00:29

Fred Scales

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That does the wrong thing - finds the path of the batch script, not the current directory. – Harry Johnston Feb 09 '15 at 23:47
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Upvoted due to answering the OP's question... and giving me the exact solution I was looking for. Thanks! – A-Diddy Feb 06 '18 at 18:56
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Nice catch. Current directory could refer to the command that call the file instead of the file's location itself. – Tam Le Dec 18 '19 at 10:23
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%cd% is the wrong answer. If launching a CMD window with admin access, the directory shows as %windir%\system32\. %~dp0% shows the appropriate directory, even if in an admin launched CMD window. – Aaron Reed Dec 19 '22 at 21:49

score 25 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 03 '16 at 03:10

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For Windows we can use

cd

and for Linux

pwd

command is there.

edited Jun 03 '16 at 03:10

answered Oct 01 '13 at 13:46

Nikunj K.

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Vishrant · Answer 7 · 2021-07-14T00:16:40.080

Create a .bat file under System32, let us name it copypath.bat the command to copy current path could be:

echo %cd% | clip

Explanation:

%cd% will give you current path

CLIP

Description:
    Redirects output of command line tools to the Windows clipboard.
    This text output can then be pasted into other programs.

Parameter List:
    /?                  Displays this help message.

Examples:
    DIR | CLIP          Places a copy of the current directory
                        listing into the Windows clipboard.

    CLIP < README.TXT   Places a copy of the text from readme.txt
                        on to the Windows clipboard.

Now copypath is available from everywhere.

You can just "cd | clip" to copy current path to the clipboard — Дмитро Олександрович, Jul 18 '21 at 11:47

score 11 · Answer 8 · edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:38

11

On Windows:

CHDIR Displays the name of or changes the current directory.

In Linux:

PWD Displays the name of current directory.

edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:38

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 17 '15 at 17:01

Ajay Jayavarapu

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score 9 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 03 '09 at 19:10

9

For Windows, cd by itself will show you the current working directory.

For UNIX and workalike systems, pwd will perform the same task. You can also use the $PWD shell variable under some shells. I am not sure if Windows supports getting the current working directory via a shell variable or not.

answered Mar 03 '09 at 19:10

Michael Trausch

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I can't however understand why he needs "cd" to see his current dir. By default, it is visible as day. And if he's changed it, than he certainly knows what "cd" does. – Rook Mar 03 '09 at 19:13
very old, but just for completeness: yes, windows does have a varible for this. It's named (guess...) `%cd%` – Stephan Jan 30 '16 at 10:21

score 5 · Answer 10 · answered Mar 03 '09 at 19:23

Based on the follow up question (store the data in a variable) in the comments to the chdir post I'm betting he wants to store the current path to restore it after changeing directories.

The original user should look at "pushd", which changes directory and pushes the current one onto a stack that can be restored with a "popd". On any modern Windows cmd shell that is the way to go when making batch files.

If you really need to grab the current path then modern cmd shells also have a %CD% variable that you can easily stuff away in another variable for reference.

score 4 · Answer 11 · edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:39

4

In a Windows command prompt, chdir or cd will print the full path of the current working directory in the console.

If we want to copy the path then we can use: cd | clip.

edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:39

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 30 '16 at 10:09

Samrat Debroy

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René Nyffenegger · Answer 12 · 2020-05-24T15:06:02.803

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@echo off
for /f "usebackq tokens=*" %%x in (`chdir`) do set var=%%x
echo The currenct directory is: %var%

But, of course, gmaran23's answer is the much easier one.

edited May 24 '20 at 15:06

answered Jul 04 '13 at 08:30

René Nyffenegger

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His answer is better by definition because your answer is wrong. It does not work for paths with spaces. – Garric May 24 '20 at 10:11
Adding `tokens=*` fixes that. – René Nyffenegger May 24 '20 at 15:06

score 0 · Answer 13 · edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:39

0

On Windows, type cd for the working current path.

On Linux, pwd for the current working path.

edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:39

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 29 '16 at 11:04

Shafeer khan

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for someone who was using Linux a lot this is the most straightforward answer – ibr Jul 05 '23 at 09:16

Garric · Answer 14 · 2020-05-24T10:17:50.217

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As one of the possible codes

    echo off
    for /f "usebackq tokens=* delims= " %%x in (`chdir`) do set var=%var% %%x
    echo The current directory is: "%var:~1%"

edited May 24 '20 at 10:17

answered May 24 '20 at 10:12

Garric

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Windows shell command to get the full path to the current directory?

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