navigate back and forward using cd

Question

Is it possible to use cd command to navigate back and forward (like browser)?. Something similar to cd - but it only swaps current and last location. I know I can push dir on stack, it would be great to use cd -> and cd <-, though.

Answer 1

zsh has this feature.

Enable by setting these options

setopt autopushd
setopt pushdminus

then use with the following commands:

[tim@host] ~% cd
[tim@host] ~% cd /
[tim@host] /% cd /tmp
[tim@host] /tmp% d
0   /tmp
1   /
2   ~
3   ~
[tim@host] /tmp% cd -3
~

Some other zsh options you might want to look into:

autopushd
pushdminus
pushdsilent
pushdtohome
pushd_ignore_dups

Answer 2

You can use pushd and popd

A small tutorial on the subject.

Answer 3

 # try this function
 # function cd_func
 # This function defines a 'cd' replacement function capable of keeping, 
 # displaying and accessing history of visited directories, up to 10 entries.
 # To use it, uncomment it, source this file and try 'cd --'.
 # acd_func 1.0.5, 10-nov-2004
 # Petar Marinov, http:/geocities.com/h2428, this is public domain
    cd_func ()
    {
    local x2 the_new_dir adir index
    local -i cnt

    if [[ $1 ==  "--" ]]; then
      dirs -v
      return 0
    fi
    the_new_dir=$1
    [[ -z $1 ]] && the_new_dir=$HOME

    if [[ ${the_new_dir:0:1} == '-' ]]; then
      #
      # Extract dir N from dirs
      index=${the_new_dir:1}
      [[ -z $index ]] && index=1
      adir=$(dirs +$index)
      [[ -z $adir ]] && return 1
      the_new_dir=$adir
    fi

    #
    # '~' has to be substituted by ${HOME}
    [[ ${the_new_dir:0:1} == '~' ]] && the_new_dir="${HOME}${the_new_dir:1}"

    #
    # Now change to the new dir and add to the top of the stack
    pushd "${the_new_dir}" > /dev/null
    [[ $? -ne 0 ]] && return 1
    the_new_dir=$(pwd)

    #
    # Trim down everything beyond 11th entry
    popd -n +11 2>/dev/null 1>/dev/null

    #
    # Remove any other occurence of this dir, skipping the top of the stack
    for ((cnt=1; cnt <= 10; cnt++)); do
      x2=$(dirs +${cnt} 2>/dev/null)
      [[ $? -ne 0 ]] && return 0
      [[ ${x2:0:1} == '~' ]] && x2="${HOME}${x2:1}"
      if [[ "${x2}" == "${the_new_dir}" ]]; then
        popd -n +$cnt 2>/dev/null 1>/dev/null
        cnt=cnt-1
      fi
    done

    return 0
    }

    alias cd=cd_func

Answer 4

I use these functions:

export BACK_HISTORY=""
export FORWARD_HISTORY=""

function cd {
    BACK_HISTORY=$PWD:$BACK_HISTORY
    FORWARD_HISTORY=""
    builtin cd "$@"
}

function back {
    DIR=${BACK_HISTORY%%:*}
    if [[ -d "$DIR" ]]
    then
        BACK_HISTORY=${BACK_HISTORY#*:}
        FORWARD_HISTORY=$PWD:$FORWARD_HISTORY
        builtin cd "$DIR"
    fi
}

function forward {
    DIR=${FORWARD_HISTORY%%:*}
    if [[ -d "$DIR" ]]
    then
        FORWARD_HISTORY=${FORWARD_HISTORY#*:}
        BACK_HISTORY=$PWD:$BACK_HISTORY
        builtin cd "$DIR"
    fi
}