Current directory

Also known as: “this directory” or “current working directory”

When you are navigating the file system the concept of which directory you are in is very important, especially when you are working on the command line.

This matters because when you refer to files, by default the computer will assume you’re referring to files relative to where you are.

Find out which directory you are in

The pwd command (pwd is short for “print working directory”) tells you where you are.

pwd

Change directory

To change into the directory pictures, do this:

cd pictures

…but this will only work if the directory pictures is in the current directory. If it isn’t, you’ll need to provide a path to it.