How do I move back to original directory?

Question

First i did pwd, it says:

/home/user

I changed my directory using :

cd /Italic/Food/Places

Now, I want to go back to original directory: /home/user. How can I do this?

Answer 1

To cd to the previous directory, you can use one of the following commands in bash:

cd -
cd "$OLDPWD"

To cd to your home directory, use one of:

cd
cd ~
cd "$HOME"

If you want to undo multiple cds, cd can't help you. You'll have to use the pushd and popd commands. Instead of cd foo/bar, do

pushd foo/bar

Then you can use the popd command to undo as many times as you have used pushd.

Example:

/tmp/lightdm-1.10.5 $ pushd ~
~ /tmp/lightdm-1.10.5
~ $ pushd devel
~/devel ~ /tmp/lightdm-1.10.5
~/devel $ popd
~ /tmp/lightdm-1.10.5
~ $ popd
/tmp/lightdm-1.10.5
/tmp/lightdm-1.10.5 $

Also see:

• How do I use the pushd and popd commands?

Answer 2

cd - returns to the previous directory.

If you want to go to home dir specifically, use cd, cd $HOME, or cd ~.

Answer 3

cd ~ will work. ~ is basically a shortcut for /home/user. If cd ~ takes you to the home folder, then use cd ~/user instead.