How do I find my current directory in Windows?
Windows File System Show In Windows, files are organized in directories (aka folders). The directories are organized in a hierarchical tree structure, starting from the so-called root directory for EACH of the hard drive (as illustrated). A directory may contain sub-directories and files. A sub-directory may contain sub-sub-directories and files, and so on. Windows' file system is organized in drives, identified by a drive letter followed by a colon, e.g., C:, D: and E:. Each drive has its own root directory, such as C:\, D:\ and E:\, where the "\" (back-slash) denote the root directory of each drive. Windows' file system is NOT case-sensitive, a rose is a Rose, and is a ROSE. Filename and File TypeA Windows' filename consists of two parts: filename and file type (or file extension) separated by a dot, e.g., Hello.java, Hello.class, Test.txt, etc. Windows can associate a program to each file type. For example, double-clicking a .txt invokes NotePad; double-clicking .jpg invokes Photo or Paint. View File Type in Windows "File Explorer"For programmers, it is important to SEE the file type inside the "File Explorer", which is hidden by default. For example, "hello.java" is displayed as "hello" with the "type" of "JAVA file". To view the file type, launch "File Explorer" ⇒ "View" menu ⇒ Check "File name extensions". Drive-Letter, Pathname and FilenameTo reference a file, you need to provide the drive letter, the directory name (aka pathname) and the filename. For example, in "C:\Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07\bin\javac.exe", the drive letter is C:, the pathname is "\Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07\bin\" and the filename is "javac.exe". The leading "\" (back-slash) denotes the root directory for that drive. The sub-directories are separated by "\" (back-slash). The pathname (or directory name) can be specified in two ways:
Command-Line Interface "CMD"Programmers use a Command-Line Interface (CLI) to issue text-commands to the Operating System (OS), instead of clicking on a Graphical User Interface (GUI). This is because command-line interace is much more powerful and flexible than the graphical user interface. The CMD (Command Interpreter or Command Prompt) is a command-line Interface (or shell). It supports a set of commands and utilities; and has its own programming language for writing batch files (or shell scripts). You can launch a CMD via:
The CMD displays a prompt which ends with a ">", in the form of "DriveLetter:\path\to\current-directory>", e.g., "C:\Windows\System>". You can enter your command after the prompt. Current Drive and Current Working DirectoryEach CMD session maintains a so-called current drive and current working directory, which is shown in the prompt in the form of "drive:\path\to\current-directory>". All relative pathnames are relative to this current drive and current working directory. Set Current Drive "x:" CommandTo set or change the current drive, enter the drive letter followed by a colon (:), e.g., prompt> d: D:\...> c: C:\...>Take note that commands are NOT case-sensitive in CMD. Change Directory "cd" CommandTo change current working directory under the current drive, use command "cd new-path" (change directory). It is important to take note that you need to set the current drive first (via "x:" command) before setting the current directory under the current drive. You can specify new-path in two ways: absolute or relative. An absolute path begins with a "\" or root directory. A relative path is relative to the current working directory and does NOT begin with a leading "\". For example, prompt> c: C:\....> cd \ C:\> cd Windows C:\Windows> cd system C:\Windows\system> cd \myproject\java C:\myproject\java> cd "\Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07\bin" C:\Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07\bin> d: D:\....> cd \ D:\> cd Java D:\Java>Take note that:
You can cd in multiple stages (e.g., one cd for each sub-directory), or cd in one single stage with the full pathname. prompt> c: C:\....> cd \ C:\> cd Program Files C:\Program Files> cd java C:\Program Files\java> cd jdk1.7.0_07 C:\Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07> cd bin C:\Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07\bin> prompt> c: C:\....> cd \Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07\bin C:\Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07\bin>Parent directory (..) and Current Directory (.)You can use ".." (double-dot) to refer to the parent directory and "." (single-dot) to refer to current directory. For example, C:\Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07\bin> cd .. C:\Program Files\java\jdk1.7.0_07> cd .. C:\Program Files\java> cd .. C:\Program Files>Setting proper working directory is important. For example, to compile a Java program called "Hello.java" stored in "D:\myproject\java\":
Directory "dir" CommandYou can list the contents of the current directory via the dir command, for example, prompt> dir ...... prompt> dir Hello.javaWildcards * and ?You can use wildcards for pattern matching. The wildcard * matches zero or more (any) characters; ? matches one (any) character. prompt> dir *.java ..... prompt> dir test* ..... prompt> dir test?.txt .....Windows Graphical Interface - File ExplorerYou could, of course, view the contents of a directory (folder) using the Windows' "File Explorer" more conveniently. But,
Tips and Tricks for File Explorer
Shortcut Keys in CMD Shell - IMPORTANTPrevious Commands in Command History: You can use the up/down arrow keys to scroll through the previous/next command in the command history. Auto-Complete with TAB: Type the first few characters of a file/directory name, and press TAB key to auto-complete the file/directory name. Press TAB key repeatedly to cycle through all the matches. Copy/Paste: In the latest CMD, you can use Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v for Copy/Paste, by enabling "Enable Ctrl Key Shortcuts" (via click on the CMD icon (top-left corner) ⇒ Properties ⇒ Options ⇒ Edit Options ⇒ Check "Enable Ctrl Key Shortcuts"). (In the earlier version of CMD, you need to enable Copy/Paste by clicking on the CMD icon (top-left corner) ⇒ Properties ⇒ Options ⇒ Edit Options ⇒ Check "QuickEdit Mode". Once enabled, you can right-click to copy the highlighted text, and another right-click to paste on the command-line.) Moving the Command-Line Cursor: In CMD, you CANNOT use mouse pointer to move the command-line cursor. Instead, you need to use Left/Right-Arrow, Backspace or Delete keys to move the command-line cursor. These are the various ways of moving the command-line cursor:
Tips and Tricks for CMD
Windows Tips and TricksKeyboard Shortcuts for WindowsProgrammers use keyboard shortcuts instead of mouse to perform most of the editing tasks, such as positioning the cursor, selecting texts, copy and paste. Below are the frequently-used keyboard shortcuts for the programmers.
Mouse Clicks
Source-Code Editors and IDETo learn a new programming language, you could begin with a graphical Source-Code Editor, with provides syntax highlighting. But you must switch over to an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which provides a graphic debugger, when you are working on complex programs and projects to improve your productivity. Read "Source-Code Editors and IDE". Windows Default Text Editor "Notepad"Notepad is a plain text editor, which does not support syntax highlighting. Do NOT use NotePad for programming. At a minimum, use NotePad++ to replace NotePad, and associate the text files (.txt, etc) to NotePad++, instead of NotePad. Not sure if NotePad can be removed from Windows! REFERENCES & RESOURCES
How do I access my current directory?To determine the exact location of the current directory at a shell prompt and type the command pwd. This example shows that you are in the user sam's directory, which is in the /home/ directory. The command pwd stands for print working directory.
What is current directory in cmd?The current directory is the current working directory, and is first in the search order when working with REXX File System (RFS). The current directory can be set using the CD command, CD. The CD command has a similar format to the cd command in operating systems such as DOS.
How do I go to a directory in command prompt?Alternatively, you can type cd , followed by the first letter of the directory, and then press Tab multiple times until the correct directory appears.
|