linux how to cd to parent folder if navigated through a symlink

Question

I have following symlink in my home directory.

lrwxrwxrwx 1 mtk mtk   43 Aug  8 20:35 tripple-bit -> /media/mtk/study/Collage/docs

I use the symlink to navigate to the docs folder directly. But now, while being in docs folder, I want to move to it's parent directory i.e. /media/mtk/study/Collage in this case.

How can I achieve this?

On giving cd .., it comes back to the home directory and not the parent directory.

Try cd -P. The -P option tells cd to use the physical directory layout when resolving relative paths. — hrunting, Aug 12 '15 at 14:07
And just for completness cd -L .. is other way around - change directory logically. — jimmij, Aug 12 '15 at 14:08

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 12 '15 at 14:07

2

Just use:

cd -P ..

From the bash manpage:

The -P option says to use the physical directory structure instead of following symbolic links.

answered Aug 12 '15 at 14:07

chaos

48,171

linux how to cd to parent folder if navigated through a symlink

1 Answers1