Difference between `/` and `//` directories

Question

Due to a typo, I accidentally cd into //. Which turns out to be a real directory (but same content as /)

So what is the difference between / and // (despite having identical content)

Real example: (ls output shortened for brevity)

:/$ cd /
:/$ ls
bin  boot  dev  etc ...
:/$ cd //
://$ ls
bin  boot  dev  etc ...
://$ cd //////// 
:/$ ls (notice how it entered `/` and not `//`)
bin  boot  dev  etc ...
:/$

So from the test above it seems that // is a special directory. This appears to be only bash, zsh did not have this quirk. Also //etc, //var, etc; all appear to be valid

Related: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/256497/on-what-systems-is-foo-bar-different-from-foo-bar — Jeff Schaller, Jan 09 '17 at 03:40

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 09 '17 at 03:04

0

You are cd'ing into the same dir. Multiple slashes are ignored.

cd /

will take you to the same (in this case root) dir as

cd //

or

cd //////

answered Jan 09 '17 at 03:04

MERM

188

1

"A pathname that begins with two successive slashes may be interpreted in an implementation-defined manner" – Michael Homer Jan 09 '17 at 03:16
yes, but you would have to set that up beforehand. The OP asked about "cd" – MERM Jan 09 '17 at 03:18

Difference between `/` and `//` directories

1 Answers1