OLDPWD (path)Return the home directory for the current session user
OLDPWD return the previous directory.
This variable exists to support POSIX, however the idiomatic way to
access this same data is via $PWDHIST.
This is a reserved variable so it cannot be changed.
PWDHIST is an array that holds the entire
PWD history rather than just the previously accessed
path.
OLDPWD reads PWDHIST, so if
PWDHIST is overwritten, this will affect the value of
OLDPWD as well.
If a previous directory cannot be determined, then
OLDPWD will error. For example:
» cd $OLDPWD
Error in `cd` (0,1): cannot assign value to $OLDPWD: already at oldest entry in $PWDHIST
> Expression: cd $OLDPWD
> : ^
> Character : 9PWDHIST (json):
History of each change to the sessions working directoryPWD (path): Current
working directorypath: Structured object
for working with file and directory pathsThis document was generated from gen/variables/OLDPWD_doc.yaml.
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Last built on Mon Oct 12 23:53:07 UTC 2026 against commit 6332fa16332fa1e89d3a5df5c6104d7f19d017367bb74f9.
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