wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
NAME
wcd - Wherever Change Directory
chdir for DOS and Unix
SYNOPSIS
wcd [options] [directory]
DESCRIPTION
Overview
Wcd is a command-line program to change directory fast. It saves time
typing at the keyboard. One needs to type only a part of a directory
name and wcd will jump to it. Wcd has a fast selection method in case
of multiple matches and allows aliasing and banning of directories.
Wcd also includes a full screen interactive directory tree browser
with speed search.
Wcd was modeled after Norton Change Directory (NCD). NCD appeared
first in The Norton Utilities, Release 4, for DOS in 1987, published
by Peter Norton.
Wcd has been ported to different command-line shells: DOS command.com,
Windows cmd.exe and PowerShell, OS/2 cmd.exe, and Unix shells such as
Bourne (sh), Bourne Again (bash), Korn (ksh), Z (zsh), and C (csh)
shell and others running on any operating system.
Wcd supports 8 bit character sets on all systems, and has optional
support for Unicode. See section LOCALIZATION.
See section INSTALLATION how to setup wcd for personal use.
Basic use
By default (if no wildcards are used) wcd searches for a directory
with a name that begins with the typed name.
For instance this command will change to directory to the current
user's "/home/user/Desktop":
wcd Desk
When there are multiple matches, wcd will present the user a list of
all matches. The user can then make a selection with a few keystrokes
(most of the times only one).
Wildcards
Wcd supports following wildcards:
- 1 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
* matches any sequence of characters (zero or more)
? matches any character
[SET] matches any character in the specified set,
[!SET] or [^SET] matches any character not in the specified set.
A set is composed of characters or ranges; a range looks like
character hyphen character as in "0-9" or "A-Z". The "[0-9a-zA-Z_]" is
the minimal set of characters allowed in the "[..]" pattern construct.
International characters (i.e. 8 bit characters) are allowed if the
system supports them. To suppress the special syntactic significance
of any of "[]*?!^-\" inside or outside a "[..]" construct and match
the character exactly, precede the character with a backslash ("\")
marker.
Using wildcards makes powerful searching possible. For instance this
matches any directory name that ends with "top":
wcd *top
Match directories that have "top" anywhere in the name:
wcd *top*
Match any directory name that begins with "a", "b" or "c":
wcd [a-c]*
It is also possible to give a part of a directory path. Here Wcd
searches for directory that begins with "Desk" and which path matches
*me/Desk*.
wcd me/Desk
It is allowed to type any kind of expression with slashes and
wildcards. E.g.:
wcd src*/*1?/a*2
Other uses
If no wildcards are used and wcd finds a perfect match, wcd will
ignore all wild matches by default. This behaviour can be changed with
the -w option.
The interactive directory tree browser can be started by using option
-g.
wcd -g
Wcd generates a treedata file where it searches the directory. On Unix
- 2 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
and Windows systems wcd does add symbolic links to the treedata file
while scanning the disk, but does not follow them. While following
links wcd could end up scanning infinite loops, or scan very large
portions of a network.
Wcd can also change to directories that are not in the treedata file.
E.g.:
wcd ..
If wcd found a match but can't change to the directory it tries to
remove it from the default treedata file. Not from the extra treedata
file. See also option -k.
Wcd keeps a directory stack which is stored on disk. The stack has a
default size of 10 and is cyclic. See options -z, -, + and =.
In multi-user environments option -u can be used to change to
directories of other users.
On DOS and Windows systems it does not matter if you use a slash "/"
or a backslash "\" as a directory separator.
It is possible on DOS and Windows systems to change drive and
directory in one go by preceding the directory name with the drive
name.
wcd d:games
Windows UNC paths
The Windows versions (Command Prompt, PowerShell, MSYS, zsh, cygwin)
support Windows SMB LAN UNC paths without drive letter such as
"\\servername\sharename". Wcd for Windows Command Prompt makes use of
the "pushd" command to automatically map a UNC path to a drive letter.
In Windows PowerShell, MSYS, zsh and Cygwin UNC paths are fully
supported. The current working directory can be a UNC path.
Console resizing on Windows
Wcd supports console resizing in Windows 10 console and ConEmu (see
<https://conemu.github.io/>) since version 6.0.3. The Windows 10
console must not be in legacy mode (check the console's properties).
The screen may not refresh when the console Layout property "Wrap text
output on resize" is disabled. The screen can be refreshed manually by
pressing the F5 key.
Interfaces
Wcd has three different interfaces to choose from a list of matches.
The interface can be chosen at compile time.
- 3 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
The first interface uses plain stdin/stdout. A numbered list is
printed in the terminal. The user has to choose from the list by
typing a number followed by <Enter>. This interface does not provide
scroll back functionality in case of a long list. The scroll back
capability of the terminal/console has to be used. It is very small
and portable.
The second interface is built with the conio library. It provides a
builtin scroll back capability. The user is presented a list numbered
with letters. Choosing from a list can be done by pressing just one
letter. This interface is fast because it saves keystrokes. If
possible the screen will be restored after exiting. One who prefers to
type numbers can use the -N option.
The third interface is built with the curses library. It is similar to
the conio interface. The curses version of wcd has also an additional
'graphical' interface. It lets the user select a directory via a full
screen interactive directory tree browser. It has a vim(1) like
navigation and search method. It can be activated with option -g.
By using the -o option one can always fall back to the stdin/stdout
interface.
OPTIONS
-a Add current path to the default treedata file.
Use this option to quickly add the current path to the default
treedata file. Re-scanning the complete disk can take a long time
in some cases.
-aa Add current and all parent paths to the default treedata file.
-A PATH
Scan directory tree from PATH and append to the default treedata
file. Examples:
wcd -A .
wcd -A /home -A /etc
wcd -A d: -A e: -A \\server\share
On Windows one can scan all shared directories of a Windows LAN
server by typing something like: "wcd -A \\servername".
See also option -S and -s and -E.
-b Ban current path.
Wcd places the current path in the ban file. This means that wcd
ignores all matches of this directory and its sub directories.
- 4 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
The ban file can be edited with a text editor. Use of wildcards is
supported and names are matched against the absolute path.
Banned paths are not excluded from scanning the disk. To do that
use option -xf.
-c, --direct-cd
Direct CD mode. By default wcd works as follows:
1. Try to find a match in the treedata file(s)
2. If no match, try to open the directory you typed.
In direct CD mode wcd works in reversed order.
1. Try to open the directory you typed.
2. If not, try to find a match in the treedata file(s).
-d DRIVE
Set drive for stack and go file (DOS only).
The stack file and the go-script are by default stored on drive C:
if environment variable HOME is not set. Use this option if drive
C: is a read-only drive. This option must be used in front of the
stack options -, + and =.
-e Add current path to the extra treedata file.
Use this option to quickly add the current path to the extra
treedata file.
-ee Add current and all parent paths to extra treedata file.
-E PATH
Scan directory tree from PATH and append to Extra treedata file.
See also options -A and -S.
-f FILE
Read treedata file FILE. Do not read the default treedata file.
+f FILE
Read treedata file FILE in addition to the default treedata file.
-g Graphical interface (only in version with curses interface).
Wcd starts a textual curses based 'graphical' interface. The user
can select a directory via a full-screen interactive directory
tree browser. It has a vim(1) like navigation and search method.
If no search string is given wcd presents the whole tree which is
- 5 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
in the default treedata file and the extra treedata files.
If a search string is given the match list is presented as a
directory tree.
The default tree layout is similar to the tree layout of the
original NCD on DOS. The difference in layout is that in NCD all
directories of a same depth level were vertically aligned over the
whole tree. This was possible in NCD, because the maximum width of
a directory name in DOS was 12 (8.3) characters. On modern
operating systems directory names can be very long, so also the
differences in length can be large. Therefore folders with a same
depth are not vertically aligned over the whole tree in wcd, but
only in sub-branches. So there is some sideways movement when
moving straight up and down from one sub-branch to another sub-
branch.
The navigation behaviour in Wcd is exactly the same as in the
original NCD. For instance if you push the Down key you go down to
the next directory with the same depth level, jumping over
branches. This enables fast navigation through the tree.
See options -Ta, -TC, and -Tc to change the navigation behaviour.
-gd Dump the treedata files as a tree to stdout.
-G PATH
Write go-script in directory PATH. For instance on Unix, "wcd -G
PATH" will write a go-script PATH/wcd.go.
-GN, --no-go-script
Do not create go-script. This option can be used in combination
with the option -j if one does not want wcd to create a go-script.
-h, --help
Show help and exit.
-i, --ignore-case
Ignore case. Dos and Windows versions of wcd ignore case default.
Unix/Cygwin versions regard case by default.
+i, --no-ignore-case
Regard case. See also option -i.
-I, --ignore-diacritics
Ignore diacritics for Latin-based scripts. Letters with
diacritical marks match their base letter without diacritical
mark. The following Latin encodings are supported: CP437, CP850,
CP852, CP1250, CP1252, ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-2, and Unicode
- 6 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
Latin-1, Latin Extended-A, and Latin Extended-B. See also
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic>
+I, --no-ignore-diacritics
Regard diacritics (default). See also option -I.
-j, --just-go
Just go mode.
In this mode wcd will not present a list when there is more than
one directory that matches the given directory. Wcd will just
change to the first option. When wcd is invoked again with the
same arguments it will change to the next option, and so on.
Wcd will print the directory to go to to stdout. So a different
installation method can be used. One could make the following
function for a POSIX compatible shell:
wcd ()
{
cd "$($HOME/bin/wcd.exe -j $@)"
}
When you are using an old shell that doesn't support "$()" command
substitution you have to use old style command substitution with
back-quotes.
wcd ()
{
cd "`$HOME/bin/wcd.exe -j $@`"
}
On Windows systems, if one is running 4NT shell, one could make
the following alias:
alias wcd `cd %@execstr[wcdwin32.exe -z 0 -j %1]`
This method eliminates the need of the go-script, so one can use
option -GN in combination with -j.
-k, --keep-paths
Keep paths.
Keep paths in the treedata file when wcd can't change to them. The
default behaviour of wcd is that it tries to remove paths from the
treedata when wcd can't change to them. With this option this
behavior is turned off.
-K, --color
- 7 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
Use colors in graphical mode.
-l ALIAS
Name the current path with ALIAS. Wcd places the current path with
alias ALIAS in the alias file. Aliases are case sensitive.
-ls Show the name of the alias file, and list all the aliases.
-m DIR
Make directory and add to treedata file.
-L, --license
Print the distribution license.
-M DIR
Make directory and add to extra treedata file.
-n PATH
Read relative treedata file from PATH.
Do not read the default treedata file. The relative treedata file
should already have been created using the wcd +S option. PATH
may also point to a file directly.
An example. Suppose another system has been mounted to mount point
"/mnt/network":
wcd -n /mnt/network src
Wcd opens the relative treedata file in "/mnt/network/". The file
contains the paths relative from that point.
+n PATH
Read relative treedata file in addition to the default treedata
file. See option -n.
-N, --numbers
Use numbers instead of letters.
Wcd with a conio or curses based interface (see section
Interfaces) presents a match list by default numbered with
letters. When the -N option is used the match list is numbered
with numbers. Regardless of the -N option one can type a letter or
numbers to make a selection from the list of matches.
-o Use stdin/stdout interface.
When for some kind of reason the conio or curses interface of wcd
does not work one can fall back to the stdin/stdout interface of
- 8 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
wcd by using the -o option.
-od, --to-stdout
Dump all matches to stdout.
-q, --quiet
Quieter operation. Printing of the final match is suppressed.
-r DIR
Remove directory and remove from the treedata file.
If the directory is empty, wcd will remove it, and try to remove
it from the treedata file.
-rmtree DIR
Recursively remove directory and remove from the treedata file.
Wcd will remove the directory and all its sub directories and
files, and remove the directories from the treedata file.
-s (re)Scan disk from $HOME directory. If HOME is not defined the
disk is scanned from root directory /.
The existing default treedata file is overwritten.
The default scan directory can be overruled with environment
variable "WCDSCAN". See section ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES.
-S PATH
Scan directory tree from PATH and overwrite the default treedata
file. See also options -A, -s and -E. E.g. with option -A you can
create a default treedata file of your choice. Examples:
Unix:
wcd -S /
wcd -S /home -A /etc -A /usr
DOS/Windows:
wcd -S c:/
wcd -S c: -A d: -A \\server\share
With the Windows versions one can scan all shared directories of a
Windows LAN server by typing something like: "wcd -S
\\servername".
+S PATH
Scan disk from PATH and place relative paths in a relative
- 9 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
treedata file. This file is used by the -n and +n options of wcd.
E.g. "wcd -n PATH src".
-t Do not strip tmp mount dir "/tmp_mnt" (Unix only)
Wcd strips by default "/tmp_mnt/" from the match. Directory
"/tmp_mnt" is used by the auto-mounter. This behaviour can be
turned off with the -t option.
-T, --ascii-tree
Draw tree with ASCII characters. Use this option if line drawing
characters are not displayed properly in your terminal.
-Ta, --alt-tree-nav
Alternative way of navigation in the graphical tree.
In the default NCD style tree layout the -Ta option disables
jumping to unrelated directories.
In compact tree mode the alternative mode makes navigation similar
to navigation in GUI file managers such as Windows Explorer or
Linux KDE Konqueror. Pressing Up and Down moves the selected
folder one line up or down. Pressing Left first folds the sub-
folders and the next move left moves really left.
You can switch on-the-fly between default and alternative
navigation by pressing <Shift-A>.
When alternative navigation mode is on, you will see an "A" in the
lower right corner.
-TC, --center-tree
Centered view in the graphical tree. The selected directory stays
in the middle of the screen. The centered mode can also be
switched on and off with key <t> in the graphical tree.
The standard non-centered behaviour, which minimises tree
movement, is the same as in the original NCD.
-Tc, --compact-tree
By default the 'graphical' tree is drawn the same way as the
original NCD on DOS did it. On DOS a directory path could only be
66 characters in total. With the deep directory structures of
today the tree can become very wide. To overcome this wcd can draw
the tree in a compact way, similar to most GUI file managers, with
only one folder per line. Use option -Tc or switch on-the-fly with
the <m> key.
-Td, --cjk-width
- 10 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
Legacy East-Asian CJK (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) fonts have
certain characters and line drawing symbols with a column width of
2, while the normal Unicode width for these characters is 1
column. For instance the Chinese CP936 raster font on Windows and
the Simsun font. Use this option for a correct outlining of the
graphical tree when a legacy CJK font is used.
When CJK mode is on, you will see a "C" in the lower right corner.
-u USER
Scan treedata file of another user based on USER, do not scan your
own default treedata file. See also section ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
for WCDUSERSHOME.
On Unix/Cygwin the base directory for user home directories is
assumed to be "/home". Wcd will look for
"/home/USER/.treedata.wcd" and "/home/USER/.wcd/.treedata.wcd", in
that order, and read the first one that exists and is readable.
On DOS/Windows the base directory for user home directories is
assumed to be "\\users", so wcd tries to read
"\\users\USER\treedata.wcd" and "\\users\USER\.wcd\treedata.wcd".
+u USER
Read default treedata file of USER in addition to your own
treedata file.
-v, --verbose
Display verbose messages. With this option wcd prints all filters,
bans and excludes.
-V, --version
Print version information and exit.
-w, --wild-match-only
Wild matching only. Treat all matches as wild matches.
-x PATH
Exclude PATH from scanning.
When this option is used wcd will exclude PATH and all its
subdirectories when wcd is scanning a disk. Wildcards are
supported and matched against absolute paths. Option -x can be
used multiple times.
wcd -x <path1> -x <path2> -s
Option -x must be used in front of any scan option (-s, -S, +S,
-A, -E).
- 11 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
On DOS/Windows systems one must specify the drive letter depending
on if environment variable HOME or WCDHOME is set. If HOME or
WCDHOME is set one needs to specify the drive letter. An example:
wcd -x c:/temp -S c:
Otherwise do not specify drive letter.
wcd -x /temp -s
-xf FILE
Exclude all paths listed in FILE from scanning.
When this option is used wcd will exclude all paths listed in FILE
and all their subdirectories when wcd is scanning a disk.
Wildcards are supported and they are matched against absolute
paths; one path per line. Be aware that wcd will not ignore
leading or trailing blanks on a line, because they are legal
characters in a directory name. Option -xf can be used multiple
times. When one wants to exclude all banned paths from scanning
one can do the following (example for wcd on unix):
wcd -xf ~/.ban.wcd -s
Wildcards are supported. For instance to exclude all your
Subversion directories with administrative files add a line with
"*/.svn".
Option -xf must be used in front of any scan option (-s, -S, +S,
-A, -E).
-y, --assume-yes
Assume Yes on all queries.
Wcd will not prompt the user with yes/no questions, but assumes
the user answers yes on all questions. This can be used in
combination with option -rmtree. This option must be used in front
of options that can lead to yes/no questions.
-z NUMBER
Set maximum stack size to NUMBER.
The default size of the stack is 10. Stack operation can be turned
off by setting the size to 0. This option must be used in front of
any other stack operations (-,+,=). Otherwise the size of the
stack will be set back to the default 10.
A correct command is:
- 12 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
wcd -z 50 -
The new stack size will be 50, wcd will go one directory back. A
wrong command is:
wcd - -z 50
Wcd goes one directory back, the stack gets the default size 10.
The -z 50 is ignored.
Add this option as the first option to your wcd alias or function.
E.g. for the a POSIX compatible shell this would be:
wcd ()
{
wcd.exe -z 50 "$@"
. ${WCDHOME:-${HOME}}/bin/wcd.go
}
-[NUMBER]
Push dir NUMBER of times. Default is one.
Go back a directory. Command "wcd -" goes one directory back. To
go more directories back add a number to it. E.g. command "wcd
-3". The stack is cyclic.
+[NUMBER]
Pop dir NUMBER of times. Default is one.
Go forward a directory. Command "wcd +" goes one directory
forward. To go more directories forward add a number to it. E.g.
command "wcd +2". The stack is cyclic.
= Show stack.
Use this option if you do not know anymore how many times to push
or pop. The stack is printed and you can choose a number. The
current place in the stack is marked with an asterisk "*".
INSTALLATION
The current working directory of a Unix shell can only be changed by
the builtin cd(1) command. Therefore the program is always called by a
function or an alias. The function or alias sources a shell script
(go-script) which is generated by the wcd program. Wcd can only work
after the function or alias is defined.
Another important influence on your installation is the definition of
environment variables HOME and WCDHOME. See section ENVIRONMENT
VARIABLES.
- 13 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
Install for POSIX type shells
For a POSIX shell (ksh, bash, zsh, etc.) on Unix, Linux, Cygwin, or
native MSYS add the following function to the shell startup file (e.g.
Bash uses "$HOME/.bashrc"):
wcd ()
{
PATH/wcd.exe "$@"
. ${WCDHOME:-${HOME}}/bin/wcd.go
}
Replace PATH with the location where the wcd executable has been
installed. Reload the shell initialization files or start new shell.
The location of the go-script "wcd.go" differs per shell.
Wcd for DJGPP DOS bash and OS/2 bash require a different function. The
go script is not written in a directory "bin", and if WCDHOME and HOME
are both not defined the go-script is written on c:/.
DOS bash:
wcd ()
{
PATH/wcdbash.exe "$@"
. ${WCDHOME:-${HOME:-"c:"}}/wcd.go
}
OS/2 bash:
wcd ()
{
PATH/wcdos2bash.exe "$@"
. ${WCDHOME:-${HOME:-"c:"}}/wcd.go
}
The WinZsh version of wcd requires a bit different function. The go-
script will never be written in c:/.
wcd ()
{
PATH/wcdwin32zsh.exe "$@"
. ${WCDHOME:-${HOME}}/wcd.go
}
See section FILES for more information.
Install for C-alike shells (csh, tcsh)
Add the following alias to the shell startup file "$HOME/.cshrc" or
- 14 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
"$HOME/.tcshrc" :
if ( ${?WCDHOME} ) then
alias wcd "PATH/wcd.exe \!* ; source $WCDHOME/bin/wcd.go"
else
alias wcd "PATH/wcd.exe \!* ; source $HOME/bin/wcd.go"
endif
Replace PATH with the location where the wcd executable has been
installed. Reload the shell initialization files or start a new
shell.
Windows Command Prompt version
Unpack the zip file and add directory "bin" to your environment
variable PATH.
In Windows Command Prompt a Windows program cannot change the current
work directory, but a .bat file can. The batch script "wcd.bat" runs
the wcd program which generates a new batch script "wcdgo.bat". Then
"wcd.bat" runs "wcdgo.bat" which actually changes the directory.
Windows VISTA and higher
In a Windows VISTA and higher Command Prompt you may have limited
access to directories. To get access to more directories you need
administrator rights. You can get a Command Prompt with administrator
rights if you right click on the Command Prompt icon and select Run as
administrator.
Windows PowerShell version
Add the following function to your PowerShell user profile. The
location of this profile is stored in the $profile variable. It is
required that one of the environment variables HOME or WCDHOME is
defined.
function wcd
{
PATH\wcdwin32psh.exe $args
& $env:HOME\wcdgo.ps1
}
Replace PATH with the location where the wcd executable has been
installed. Start a new PowerShell. Wcd for PowerShell supports only
the file system provider. No other providers.
OS/2 Command Prompt version
In an OS/2 Command Prompt (cmd.exe) an OS/2-program can't change the
current work directory. That is why wcd generates a command script
"wcdgo.cmd" which must be executed in the current shell. The script
"wcd.cmd" first executes "wcdos2.exe", which creates the "wcdgo.cmd"
- 15 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
script. Then "wcd.cmd" executes the "wcdgo.cmd" script.
LOCALIZATION
LANG
The primary language is selected with the environment variable
LANG. The LANG variable consists out of several parts. The first
part is in small letters the language code. The second one is
optional and is the country code in capital letters, preceded with
an underscore. There is also an optional third part: character
encoding, preceded with a dot. A few examples for POSIX standard
type shells:
export LANG=nl Dutch
export LANG=nl_NL Dutch, The Netherlands
export LANG=nl_BE Dutch, Belgium
export LANG=es_ES Spanish, Spain
export LANG=es_MX Spanish, Mexico
export LANG=en_US.iso88591 English, USA, Latin-1 encoding
For a complete list of language and country codes see the
gettext(1) manual:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#Language-Codes>
On Unix systems you can use to command locale(1) to get locale
specific information.
LANGUAGE
With the LANGUAGE environment variable you can specify a priority
list of languages, separated by colons. Wcd gives preference to
LANGUAGE over LANG. For instance, first Dutch and then German:
"LANGUAGE=nl:de". You have to first enable localization, by
setting LANG or LC_ALL to a value other than C, before you can use
a language priority list through the LANGUAGE variable. See also
the gettext(1) manual:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#The-LANGUAGE-variable>
If you select a language which is not available you will get the
standard English messages.
WCDLOCALEDIR
With the environment variable WCDLOCALEDIR the LOCALEDIR used
during compilation and installation of wcd can be overruled.
LOCALEDIR is used by wcd with native language support to find the
language files. The GNU default value is
"/usr/local/share/locale". By typing "wcd -V" wcd will print the
LOCALEDIR that is used.
If you have installed wcd in a different directory than the
default directory you may need to set the environment variable
WCDLOCALEDIR to point to the locale directory.
- 16 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
An example for Windows cmd:
set WCDLOCALEDIR=c:/my_prefix/share/locale
An example for a POSIX shell:
export WCDLOCALEDIR=$HOME/share/locale
LC_COLLATE
When there are multiple directory matches wcd presents a sorted
list. The sorting depends on the locale settings. If the
environment LANG has been set the matches are sorted like
dictionaries or phone books are sorted in that language. For
instance dots and dashes are ignored, or letters e with and
without accent are equal, or upper and lower case is ignored.
The sorting gives preference to environment variable LC_COLLATE
over LANG. If you make LC_COLLATE equal to "C" or "POSIX", locale
sorting is turned off. For instance if you want Dutch language,
but not Dutch sorting, you can do something like this:
export LANG=nl_NL
export LC_COLLATE=C
LC_CTYPE
With regard to character encoding Wcd will give preference to
variable LC_CTYPE over LANG. For instance to set character
encoding to UTF-8 the following environment setting can be done.
export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL
All locale environment variables that start with LC_ are overruled
by the environment variable LC_ALL if it is defined. Wcd gives
preference to LC_ALL over LC_COLLATE and LC_CTYPE.
WINDOWS CODE PAGES
There are two groups of code pages: DOS code pages (OEM) and Windows
code pages (ANSI). The default encoding for Windows, when configured
with Western regional settings, is ANSI CP1252. Windows programs, for
instance notepad, use this default system ANSI code page. The Windows
console uses by default an OEM code page (CP437 or CP850) for
compatibility with DOS programs. If you use a DOS version of wcd in a
Windows console it will work, because of the DOS code page. But the
DOS version of wcd lacks support for long directory names and network
drives on Windows.
The Windows version of wcd is a native Windows program and will use
the Windows system ANSI code page. So on a Western regional Windows it
- 17 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
will use code page CP1252 for directory names and messages. In order
to get consistent output, independent of the active code page, all
Windows versions of Wcd translate ANSI output to Unicode output in the
Command Prompt and PowerShell.
The console raster font only supports the original OEM code page
installed with Windows, so you have to change the console's font to
true type Lucida Console to make Unicode (and ANSI) letters appear
correctly.
Non-Unicode versions of Wcd prior to version 5.2.0 use plain ANSI
output. For these older versions the code page of the console has to
be made equal to the system code page (changed to 1252) to make wcd
for Windows work properly with special characters such as accented
characters or the Euro symbol.
The Windows system code page can be changed via the Control Panel
regional options. The Windows console code page is changed with the
"chcp" command.
When you type "wcd -V", the actual character encoding used by wcd is
shown. Type the command "chcp" to display the active code page of the
Windows console.
UNICODE
Wcd has optional support for Unicode. To see if wcd was built with
Unicode support type "wcd -V". If your terminal/console and font
supports it, you should see the Euro symbol and Chinese characters
(meaning: "Chinese").
Wcd has been soft converted to Unicode. In its core wcd handles all
data as a stream of bytes. Only the lines printed to screen are on the
fly converted to Unicode wide characters. Wcd fully relies on libc
functions and has no UTF-8 specific code. See also
<http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html>
Wcd has optional support for Unicode matching with normalisation. To
find out whether Wcd has normalisation support type "wcd -V". Wcd
with Unicode normalization support will match Unicode names based on
compatible equivalence. Without Unicode normalization support, names
are matched when they are binary equivalent. See also
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_normalization>
UTF-8 on Unix/Linux
In order to view UTF-8 characters your console/terminal also needs to
support UTF-8. The xterm version that comes with XFree86 4.0 or higher
includes UTF-8 support. To activate it, start xterm(1) in a UTF-8
locale and use a font with iso10646-1 encoding, for instance with
- 18 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 xterm -u8 -fn '-Misc-Fixed-Medium-R-SemiCondensed--13-120-75-75-C-60-ISO10646-1'
Modern distributions of GNU/Linux support UTF-8 by default. Other
multi-byte character encodings should also work, but that has not been
tested.
Wcd assumes that the treedata files are encoded in the locale
character encoding. There are no Byte Order Marks written to treedata
files.
UTF-16 on Windows
On Windows Unicode is supported in all versions of PowerShell, and in
Windows Command Prompt on Windows 7 (or higher). Unicode also works in
Take Command or TCC/LE made by JP Software, which can be used on older
Windows versions (XP/Vista).
On Windows all the directory names on disk are encoded in UTF-16
Unicode. For non-Unicode Windows programs the Unicode characters are
translated to the default ANSI code page. For characters that are not
part of the regional setting this translation is not possible and
non-Unicode programs print a question mark or a wrong character
instead.
Wcd with Unicode support will read the UTF-16 encoded directory names
and converts them internally to UTF-8. All treedata files are encoded
in UTF-8 and not compatible with the non-Unicode version of Wcd. Wcd
will create a go-script encoded in UTF-8.
All versions of Windows PowerShell are able to run scripts encoded in
UTF-8, provided there is an UTF-8 BOM in the script.
Since Windows 7 it is possible in Windows Command Prompt to change
directory with a batch script to a directory with Unicode letters in
the name. The directory name needs to be encoded in UTF-8, and the
batch script must not have a BOM. The active code page of the Command
Prompt needs to be set to 65001 (UTF-8) prior to the cd command. Wcd
for Command Prompt will create such a go script "wcdgo.bat". It first
changes the code page to 65001, then changes directory, and finally
sets the code page back to the original code page.
You need to set the font to True Type Lucida Console (not raster font)
when letters don't appear correctly.
The non-Unicode Windows version of Wcd can read Unicode treedata files
since version 5.2.0, provided there is a Byte Order Mark (BOM) in the
file (see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_order_mark>), but it
can't change to directories with Unicode letters in the name that are
not part of the default system ANSI code page. The Unicode Windows
- 19 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
version of wcd writes a BOM in the UTF-8 encoded treedata files since
version 5.2.0, which makes them also readable by notepad.
UTF-8 on Cygwin
Cygwin supports Unicode since version 1.7. The Cygwin layer takes care
that the Windows UTF-16 Unicode names are converted to UTF-8. So
programs, like wcd, do not need to be aware of this and can operate
using UTF-8 encoding as on Unix/Linux. Set character encoding to UTF-8
with the LANG or LC_CTYPE environment variable. You may need to rescan
your drives. You need to set the font to True Type Lucida Console (not
raster font) if you use the default Cygwin console.
The Cygwin version behaves exactly as the Unix version of wcd. There
is no BOM written in the treedata files, and it is assumed they are
encoded in the Cygwin locale character encoding.
FILES
If the environment variable WCDHOME is set wcd will use WCDHOME
instead of HOME. All "*.wcd" files are text files. They can be edited
with a text editor. The Windows Command Prompt version of wcd behaves
as the DOS version. The Cygwin version of wcd behaves as the Unix
version.
wcd.exe
The program. In Unix shells the program is always called by a
function or alias, because the current working directory of a Unix
shell can only be changed by the builtin cd command. See also
section INSTALLATION.
default treedata file
This is the default treedata file where wcd searches for matches.
If it is not readable wcd will create a new one.
DOS: \treedata.wcd or %HOME%\treedata.wcd
Unix: $HOME/.treedata.wcd
extra treedata file
An optional extra treedata file. If it exists and is readable wcd
will try to find matches in this file also.
DOS: \extra.wcd or %HOME%\extra.wcd
Unix: $HOME/.extra.wcd
ban file
In this optional file wcd places banned paths. See option -b.
Wildcards are supported.
- 20 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
DOS: \ban.wcd or %HOME%\ban.wcd
Unix: $HOME/.ban.wcd
alias file
Optional file with wcd aliases. See option -l.
DOS: \alias.wcd or %HOME%\alias.wcd
Unix: $HOME/.alias.wcd
stack file
In this file wcd stores its stack. The drive letter can be changed
with the -d option.
DOS: c:\stack.wcd or %HOME%\stack.wcd
Unix: $HOME/.stack.wcd
The name of the stack file can be changed with environment
variable WCDSTACKFILE. See section ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES.
go-script
This is the shell script which wcd.exe creates each time. It is
sourced via a function or an alias. The drive letter can be
changed with the -d option. For history reasons it is placed by
default in "$HOME/bin" on Unix systems. The directory of this file
can be changed with the option -G.
DOS bash: c:/wcd.go or $HOME/wcd.go
Windows Command Prompt: c:\wcdgo.bat or %HOME%\wcdgo.bat
Windows PowerShell: $env:HOME\wcdgo.ps1
WinZsh: $HOME/wcd.go
Cygwin/MSYS: $HOME/bin/wcd.go
OS/2 Command Prompt: c:\wcdgo.cmd or %HOME%\wcdgo.cmd
OS/2 bash: c:/wcd.go or $HOME/wcd.go
Unix: $HOME/bin/wcd.go
relative treedata file
Text file with relative paths from DIR. See options +S, -n and +n.
DOS: PATH\rtdata.wcd
Unix: PATH/.rtdata.wcd
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
HOME
Wcd uses by default environment variable HOME to determine where
to store its files. See also section FILES. This can be overruled
with environment variable WCDHOME.
HOME also defines where to start scanning the disk when option -s
is used. This can be overruled with the environment variable
- 21 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
WCDSCAN.
For the Unix, Cygwin, Windows PowerShell, WinZsh and MSYS version
it is required that HOME or WCDHOME is set. For the other versions
of wcd the use of these variables is optional.
If HOME is set on DOS/Windows, wcd will place all its files
(treedata.wcd, extra.wcd, alias.wcd, ban.wcd, wcd.go) in directory
HOME. The behaviour of wcd is then equal to the Unix version of
wcd. Wcd will scan the disk default from HOME. Drives will not be
automatically scanned by changing to them. You need to tell wcd
explicitly. E.g.:
wcd -S c: -A d: -A e:
Matching of directories is now global over all scanned drives.
WCDHOME
Environment variable WCDHOME can be used to change the location of
wcd's files. If both HOME and WCDHOME are set, WCDHOME will be
used instead of HOME.
In wcd versions prior to 5.1.5 WCDHOME also changed the default
scan directory. This has changed. Since version 5.1.5 WCDHOME
does not change the default scan directory. See option -s. From
version 5.1.5, use environment WCDSCAN to overrule the default
scan directory.
Example for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDHOME=C:\Users\erwin\wcd
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDHOME="$HOME/.wcd"
An example for Csh type shells:
setenv WCDHOME "$HOME/.wcd"
WCDSCAN
Use environment variable WCDSCAN to overrule the default scan
directory HOME. Define a colon separated list (Unix) to define
more than one directory. On DOS/Windows make the list semi-colon
separated.
Examples for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDSCAN=C:\Users\erwin;D:\data
- 22 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
set WCDSCAN=%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%;\\projectdrive\projectX
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDSCAN="$HOME:/projectdisk/projectX"
An example for Csh type shells:
setenv WCDSCAN "$HOME:/projectdisk/projectX"
WCDFILTER
Specify filters with environment variable WCDFILTER. All
directories that do not match the filter(s) are ignored. A list
can be specified by separating filters by the shell path
separator. Similar as specifying the PATH variable. The case
sensitivity is mandated by the Operating system.
An example for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDFILTER=projects;doc
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDFILTER="projects:doc"
An example for Csh type shells:
setenv WCDFILTER "projects:doc"
WCDBAN
The paths specified with environment WCDBAN will be banned by wcd.
See also option -b. Specify a list of paths separated by shell
PATH separator.
WCDEXCLUDE
The paths specified with environment WCDEXCLUDE will be excluded
by wcd. See also options -x and -xf. Specify a list of paths
separated by shell PATH separator.
An example for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDEXCLUDE=*/windows;*/temp;*CVS
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDEXCLUDE="/dev:/tmp:*CVS"
An example for Csh type shells:
- 23 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
setenv WCDEXCLUDE "/dev:/tmp:*CVS"
WCDUSERSHOME
Set the base of user's home directories. On DOS/Windows the
default value is "\\users". On Unix/Cygwin the default value is
"/home". This variable is used to scan treedata files of other
users. See also options -u and +u. In verbose mode wcd will print
all filters, bans and excludes. See option -v.
WCDSTACKFILE
Wcd gives preference to WCDSTACKFILE over the default stack file
name (see section FILES). With this variable each shell (or used
terminal emulator) can have its private stack of used directories.
To use a unique time based YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS file for each opened
interactive shell.
export WCDSTACKFILE=$HOME/.wcd/stack.$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
For a stack per xterm(1), use the xterm WINDOWID environment
variable:
export WCDSTACKFILE=$HOME/.wcd/stack.$WINDOWID
For GNU screen(1), to use stack per screen:
export WCDSTACKFILE=$HOME/.wcd/stack.$WINDOW
TERMINFO
If the environment variable TERMINFO is defined, wcd with ncurses
interface checks for a local terminal definition before checking
in the standard place. This is useful if terminal definitions are
not on a standard place. Often used standard places are
"/usr/lib/terminfo" and "/usr/share/terminfo".
PDC_RESTORE_SCREEN
Wcd with PDCurses interface recognizes the environment variable
PDC_RESTORE_SCREEN. If this environment variable is set, PDCurses
will take a copy of the contents of the screen at the time that
wcd is started; when wcd exits, the screen will be restored. An
example for Windows Command Prompt:
set PDC_RESTORE_SCREEN=1
Windows allows only a small buffer to be saved. So it is not
always possible to restore everything. Some garbage data may be
printed in the console after wcd exits if you have set a large
buffer width.
- 24 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
wcd(1) wcd wcd(1)
2019-08-14 2019-08-14
2019-08-14
SHELL
Printing of "#!$SHELL" on the first line of the go-script for
POSIX type shell or C shell is needed for 8 bit characters. Some
shells otherwise think that the go-script is a binary file and
will not source it. In Cygwin Bash the variable SHELL must be set
in environment using the "export" command, otherwise wcd can't
read the variable.
BASH
Wcd for DOS bash uses $BASH instead of $SHELL, because $SHELL
points to the DOS command shell. One may need to define $BASH with
an "export" command, otherwise wcd can't read the variable.
SEE ALSO
sh(1), bash(1), csh(1), ksh(1), zsh(1), locale(1), ncurses(1),
AUTHORS
Wcd was written by Erwin Waterlander <waterlan@xs4all.nl>
Project homepage: <http://waterlan.home.xs4all.nl/>
SourceForge: <http://sourceforge.net/projects/wcd/>
The manual page formatting was provided by Jari Aalto
<jari.aalto@cante.net>.
NCD was originally written by Brad Kingsbury for Peter Norton's
"Norton Utilities" around 1987. See also
<http://www.softpanorama.org/OFM/norton_change_directory_clones.shtml>
- 25 - Formatted: May 1, 2024
