Why does cd-ing to // set PWD to //, but more slashes just gives /?

Question

On my ubuntu box I accidentally just did cd // and noticed that my current path changed to //. ls showed the contents of my root directory.

When I try cd /// (or any other number of slashes) I'm just taken directly to the root.

I'm sure this isn't something I need to worry about in any way during every day life but I was wondering if there was some interesting curiosity about why it behaves this way.

Ah ha – thanks @Brian! I did try to search for it, but it's not the most searchable kind of question (granted, you didn't seem to have any problem finding it). — Aidan Kane, Oct 28 '15 at 16:38
See http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/12283/unix-difference-between-path-starting-with-and. — Mingye Wang, Oct 29 '15 at 19:02
@dhag This is actually more like the one I linked. The asker is talking about how his shell normalizes paths starting with multiple slashes. — Mingye Wang, Oct 29 '15 at 19:53
Also (somewhat) related: Strange difference between pwd and /bin/pwd. — G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica', Oct 29 '15 at 20:41

score -1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 28 '15 at 16:24

-1

cd / means change directory to root. The amount of slashes does not make a difference.

(source): http://www.linfo.org/cd.html

answered Oct 28 '15 at 16:24

1

If you think a question is in the wrong place, just flag it for migration. – EEAA Oct 28 '15 at 16:32
(1) Your source doesn’t support your answer; it says what cd / means (which we *all* already know) but doesn’t say anything about cd // or multiple slashes. (2) Something it does say is “When used without specifying any directory name, cd returns the user to the previous current directory.” — which, of course, is wrong — so it’s not a very trustworthy source. – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica' Oct 31 '15 at 04:35

Why does cd-ing to // set PWD to //, but more slashes just gives /?

1 Answers1