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Feeling like an idiot right now. Why does this not work?

echo "/some/directory/path" | xargs -n1 cd
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1 Answer

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The pipe runs xargs in a subprocess, and xargs runs cd in a subprocess. Changes in a subprocess do not get propagated to the parent process.

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That makes complete sense. Thanks for helping a Unix noob. – Ian Lotinsky Nov 3 '10 at 19:36
You can get the effect you want by using back-quotes: cd `echo "/some/directory/path" | cut -d\ -f1` (Note that I added 'cut' to split on spaces and grab the first item the way xargs does) – Slartibartfast Nov 3 '10 at 20:27
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Actually, xargs can't run cd since it's, of necessity, a shell builtin and xargs can only run free-standing executables. What you said is true about subprocesses, however. – Dennis Williamson Nov 3 '10 at 20:36
/usr/bin/cd is definitely a Unix free standing documented command, at least on Solaris. – jlliagre Nov 3 '10 at 23:31

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