intro-6.html

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## 6. Directory Stacks

If you use csh, you may know about directory stacks. The pushd command puts the current directory on the stack, and changes to a new directory; the popd command pops a directory off the stack and changes to it.

phoenix% cd
phoenix% PROMPT=’Z %˜> ’
Z ˜> pushd /tmp
/tmp ˜
Z /tmp> pushd /usr/etc
/usr/etc /tmp ˜
Z /usr/etc> pushd /usr/bin
/usr/bin /usr/etc /tmp ˜
Z /usr/bin> popd
/usr/etc /tmp ˜
Z /usr/etc> popd
/tmp ˜
Z /tmp> pushd /etc
/etc /tmp ˜
Z /etc> popd
/tmp ˜

zsh’s directory stack commands work similarly. One difference is the way pushd is handled if no arguments are given. As in csh, this exchanges the top two elements of the directory stack:

Z /tmp> dirs
/tmp ˜
Z /tmp> pushd
˜ /tmp

unless the stack only has one entry:

Z ˜> popd
/tmp
Z /tmp> dirs
/tmp
Z /tmp> pushd
˜ /tmp
Z ˜>

or unless the PUSHDTOHOME option is set:

Z ˜> setopt pushdtohome
Z ˜> pushd
˜ ˜ /tmp

As an alternative to using directory stacks in this manner, we can get something like a directory history by setting a few more options and parameters:

˜> DIRSTACKSIZE=8
˜> setopt autopushd pushdminus pushdsilent pushdtohome
˜> alias dh=’dirs -v’
˜> cd /tmp
/tmp> cd /usr
/usr> cd bin
/usr/bin> cd ../pub
/usr/pub> dh
0 /usr/pub
1 /usr/bin
2 /usr
3 /tmp
4 ˜
/usr/pub> cd -3
/tmp> dh
0 /tmp
1 /usr/pub
2 /usr/bin
3 /usr
4 ˜
/tmp> ls ˜2/df
/usr/bin/df
/tmp> cd -4
˜>

Note that ˜2 expanded to the second directory in the history list, and that cd -3 recalled the third directory in the list.

You may be wondering what all those options do. AUTOPUSHD made cd act like pushd. (alias cd=pushd is not sufficient, for various reasons.) PUSHDMINUS swapped the meaning of cd +1 and cd -1; we want them to mean the opposite of what they mean in csh, because it makes more sense in this scheme, and it’s easier to type:

˜> dh
0 ˜
1 /tmp
2 /usr/pub
3 /usr/bin
4 /usr
˜> unsetopt pushdminus
˜> cd +1
/tmp> dh
0 /tmp
1 ˜
2 /usr/pub
3 /usr/bin
4 /usr
/tmp> cd +2
/usr/pub>

PUSHDSILENT keeps the shell from printing the directory stack each time we do a cd, and PUSHDTOHOME we mentioned earlier:

/usr/pub> unsetopt pushdsilent
/usr/pub> cd /etc
/etc /usr/pub /tmp ˜ /usr/bin /usr
/etc> cd
˜ /etc /usr/pub /tmp ˜ /usr/bin /usr
˜> unsetopt pushdtohome
˜> cd
/etc ˜ /usr/pub /tmp ˜ /usr/bin /usr
/etc>

DIRSTACKSIZE keeps the directory stack from getting too large, much like HISTSIZE:

/etc> setopt pushdsilent
/etc> cd /
/> cd /
/> cd /
/> cd /
/> cd /
/> cd /
/> cd /
/> cd /
/> dh
0 /
1 /
2 /
3 /
4 /
5 /
6 /
7 /

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