CD, CHDIR

CD and CHDIR are the same command

Changes to a different directory, or displays the current directory. However, if a different drive letter is used, it does not switch to that different drive or volume.

Examples:

• cd

  Prints the current directory, e.g. C:\Windows\System32.

• cd C:\Program Files

  No surrounding quotes are needed around paths with spaces.

• cd \Program Files
• cd Documents
• cd %USERPROFILE%
• cd /d C:\Program Files

  Changes to the directory of the C: drive even if C: is not the current drive.

• C: & cd C:\Program Files.

  Changes to the directory of the C: drive even if C: is not the current drive.

• cd ..

  Changes to the parent directory. Does nothing if already in the root directory.

• cd ..\..

  Changes to the parent directory two levels up.

• C: & cd C:\Windows\System32 & cd ..\..\Program Files

  Uses .. to navigate through the directory tree up and down

• cd \\myserver\folder

  Does not work. Changing the directory directly to a network Universal Naming Convention (UNC) folder does not work. Keywords: UNC path.

• subst A: \\myserver\folder && cd /d A:

  Changes the directory to a server folder with the use of SUBST command, assuming drive letter A: is free.

• pushd \\myserver\folder

  Automatically creates a drive for the folder and changes to it. After you use POPD, the drive gets unassigned again.

• cd C:\W*

  Changes to C:\Windows, in a typical Windows setup. Thus, wildcards work. Useful for manual typing from the command line.

• cd C:\W*\*32

  Changes to C:\Windows\System32, in a typical Windows setup.

Links:

• cd at ss64.com
• cd at Microsoft

$ cd /?
Displays the name of or changes the current directory.

CHDIR [/D] [drive:][path]
CHDIR [..]
CD [/D] [drive:][path]
CD [..]

  ..   Specifies that you want to change to the parent directory.

Type CD drive: to display the current directory in the specified drive.
Type CD without parameters to display the current drive and directory.

Use the /D switch to change current drive in addition to changing current
directory for a drive.

If Command Extensions are enabled CHDIR changes as follows:

The current directory string is converted to use the same case as
the on disk names.  So CD C:\TEMP would actually set the current
directory to C:\Temp if that is the case on disk.

CHDIR command does not treat spaces as delimiters, so it is possible to
CD into a subdirectory name that contains a space without surrounding
the name with quotes.  For example:

    cd \winnt\profiles\username\programs\start menu

is the same as:

    cd "\winnt\profiles\username\programs\start menu"

which is what you would have to type if extensions were disabled.