nixCraft 🐧Quiz: How do you print the value of the $PWD shell variable in #Linux or #Unix? Choose one answer only.
awk 'BEGIN {print ENVIRON["PWD"]}'
cat <<<"$PWD"
echo "$PWD"
printf "%s\n" "$PWD"
Poll ended at .
Dimitris Nakos, MSc@nixCraft why not just $pwd? :P
Slash909uk🤣🤣🤣 What am I? Suicidal?
🪨
Erik Ellestad@nixCraft I mean they all work, but 'echo "$PWD"' is the most direct and takes the least typing.
Himmelssohn
αxel simon ↙︎↙︎↙︎
Patrick Schmitz@nixCraft printenv PWD
Bonkers@nixCraft echo for me, but how about
>env |grep PWD ?
>env |grep PWD ?
cmdrSprocket@nixCraft sometimes I use $PWD<TAB>
Ken Ellinwood@nixCraft export PS1='\w \$'
gunstick@nixCraft I took the awk solution just becaue I love awk.
Andrew Reid@nixCraft
I like that first one. Gratuitous use of `awk` is always welcome.
I like that first one. Gratuitous use of `awk` is always welcome.
Flounder@nixCraft `readlink /proc/self/cwd`
Frank Abelbeck@nixCraft just call 'pwd'?
Negative12DollarBill@nixCraft not sure why you wrote "choose one answer only". That's how radio buttons work.
R. L. Dane 
Voted for printf, just to gratify my inner C snob (that doesn't actually know much C at all ^__^)
But I *do* use it occasionally in scripts and one-liners when I need nicely formatted output.
Koen 🇺🇦
Dave@nixCraft
The second one only works if you use bash, so not recommended in scripts. Or if, like me, you use tcsh.
The second one only works if you use bash, so not recommended in scripts. Or if, like me, you use tcsh.
Min 
@nixCraft Clearly
python3 -c 'import os; print(os.getenv("PWD"))' is the best option.
jadedctrl 
@nixCraft awk, awk, awk!
he’s good with text, he’s good with lines, he’s good with columns… he’s perfect!
he’s good with text, he’s good with lines, he’s good with columns… he’s perfect!
Matteo Pasotti 
@nixCraft just use pwd -L as it is available on BSD, AIX, SCO and the great majority of GNU/Linux distributions.
Otherwise you could use perl 😉 perl -e 'use Cwd; print getcwd . "\n";'
Otherwise you could use perl 😉 perl -e 'use Cwd; print getcwd . "\n";'
Gabe
Mark@nixCraft Which way is the correct way?
cat /proc/cwd
You can not trust ENVIRONMENT
There are issues with getenv(), putenv(), and setenv(). The semantics are not consistent and can be abused.
@SpaceLifeForm @nixCraft hang on for real? And here I thought I was being silly when the obvious answer is `pwd`
The pwd executable inherients the ENVIRONMEMT via fork() and execve() from the parent process.
If the enviroment variables have been corrupted already, then there could be turtles.
Most code does not call chdir() so using PWD probably did not change.
But, if the software in question creates addiitonal environment variables that point to subdirectories, there could be issues, especially if there are libraries involved that have not been vetted via source code review.
@SpaceLifeForm @nixCraft I'm having a hard time convincing `getcwd` that I'm somewhere I'm not by messing with the environ. presumably this is some deep magic beyond my (limited) understanding? I guess my takeaway is to trust `getcwd` and not `getenv`?
@SpaceLifeForm @nixCraft `Ubuntu GLIBC 2.35-0ubuntu3.8`
linux mint running Kernel 6.8.0-45-generic x86_64
linux mint running Kernel 6.8.0-45-generic x86_64
Þór Sigurðsson
sashk 🇺🇦
Kaito@nixCraft wait is this a trick question? Where did just typing `pwd` go
@nixCraft None of the above.
echo ${PWD}
Acvaristul Lenes@nixCraft hmm. Never thought of echoing it. I always use the pwd command.
If needed, I might send its output to a file.
If needed, I might send its output to a file.
Leah@nixCraft «pwd» ftw
Ashlynn@nixCraft the awk route just cause screw readability
Rob Kaper@nixCraft echo in a shell but voted printf because in scripts and coding it's often tremendously elegant
yetzt@nixCraft realpath .
Artemis@nixCraft Honestly, TIL $PWD is even a thing.
sobkas@nixCraft env| grep PWD?
Tito Swineflu@nixCraft I selected the awk command, but as a linux genius, I would have passed that awk command into a perl script.
Malte Bublitz 
echo "PWD" | python3 -c 'import subprocess,sys; var = sys.stdin.read().strip(); print(subprocess.run(["awk", "BEGIN {print ENVIRON[\"" + var + "\"]}"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.decode("UTF-8"))'