How do I create a symbol to represent a path to easily cd into a directory?

Question

In the same way that cd ~ directs you to your home directory, is it possible to create another symbol, @ for example, such that cd @ would take me to /my/working/directory?

Answer 1

You can use the CDPATH variable to simulate it. Just create a directory with soft links to the destination paths, e.g.

mkdir ~/dir_aliases
ln -s /path/to/alias ~/dir_aliases/@
ln -s /another/path ~/dir_aliases/%
...

Then add this dir to CDPATH (probably in .bashrc or similar)

CDPATH=~/dir_aliases

Typing

cd @

will take you to ~/dir_aliases/@. (Unfortunately, the link path will be shown, you'll have to

cd $(readlink -f .)

to see the real path.)

Answer 2

Two options come to mind:

• Use a variable:

  w="/my/working/directory"
  cd "$w"
  

• Use an alias:

  alias cdw='cd /my/working/directory'
  cdw