tmux ignoring path given with -c flag on split-window & new-window

Question

Using split-window & new-window in tmux to create new panes & windows seems to be ignoring any use of the -c (start-directory) flag.

I've tried binding this to % in my ~/.tmux.conf & manually entering it as a command inside tmux at the prompt by hitting prefix :.

My intention is to set it to always use my current $PWD by binding the keys like this:

unbind %
bind % split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"

unbind '"'
bind '"' split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"

but it doesn't seem to matter what argument I pass to -c, tmux just opens the new pane or window at my home directory.

I'm running tmux v2.6 on Ubuntu 18.04 accessed via ssh. Here's the contents of my /home/andrew/.tmux.conf file:

# bind new panes to same path as active pane

# horizontal split
unbind %
bind % split-window -h -c "/home/andrew/dev/py-spec" # I've also tried "#{pane_current_path}" here as well, but neither works

# vertical split
unbind '"'
bind   '"' split-window -v -c "/home/andrew/dev/py-spec" # I've also tried "#{pane_current_path}" here as well, but neither works

Answer 1

Finally figured out my problem, I'm putting it here just in case if anyone else makes the same mistake I did.

Turns out my .bashrc was always changing the directory back to home here:

# reset current directory to $HOME
cd

I have no idea why I ever stuck that line in there, but removing it fixed the problem.

Thanks to @Attie for all the help troubleshooting!