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I have this script in a file called /Users/tcl/scripts/gotoroot:

echo "hello"
cd /
echo "good bye"

But when I run it I get this:

User:scripts tcl$ pwd
/Users/tcl/scripts
User:scripts tcl$ gotoroot
hello
good bye
User:scripts tcl$ pwd
/Users/tcl/scripts
User:scripts tcl$

The directory has not changed and I don't know why? It should be /, not /Users/tcl/scripts

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2 Answers 2

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6

When you run the script, it starts a subshell in a new process. The cd changes directory inside that subshell, not inside your terminal process.

Test it out by putting this in your script:

pwd
cd /
pwd

You should see that it changes to / inside the script.

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1 Comment

Got it, thanks. This is a duplicate of stackoverflow.com/questions/255414/….
2

Shell scripts are run inside of sub processes. The CD is working but it's happening inside a different process than your main terminal session and has no effect on the working directory once you return to your terminal session.

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