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Kornel
Asked: 2009-08-07 13:38:14 +0800 CST

cd to a directory when its path is entered as a command (instead of "foo is a directory" error)

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I hate when bash gives me "duh!" kind of error:

foo$ ./bar
-bash: ./bar: is a directory

I used to love AmigaOS shell in which "execution" of a directory simply meant setting it as the current directory:

foo$ ./bar
bar$

Is it possible in bash? (without infinite number of aliases of course.)

bash shell directory

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Bash 4.0 has the autocd option.

    From the Official FAQ:

    There is a new 'autocd' option that, when enabled, causes bash to attempt to `cd' to a directory name that is supplied as the first word of a simple command.

    Also, take a look at the CDPATH environment variable in man bash for any version since at least as early as 2.0. It allows you to shorten cd commands by searching the listed directories for the directory specified in a cd command.

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  2. Don't know about bash but this is possible in zsh.

    # ~/.zshrc
setopt autocd

    Edit: you could probably handle this in bash the same way ubuntu catches command not found

        # bashrc

    function command_not_found_handle {
            if [ -d $1]; then
                cd $1
            else
                echo command not found
            fi
    }
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  3. As documentation for future searches, this is also possible in csh / tcsh, though the name differs:

    # ~/.cshrc
set implicitcd

    This value may also be set to verbose, which then echoes the cd commands that are invoked in this manner.

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