Hi, According to the bash manpage and to "help pwd", "pwd -P" should only print something but not change the state of bash.
However, if bash is launched as "sh", the "pwd -P" command alters $PWD to the resolved canonical full path name, and if the prompt contains \w, it is also updated to the canonical value. Example: ~ $ PS1='\w \$ ' sh ~ $ ln -s /usr/bin /tmp/xxx ~ $ cd /tmp/xxx /tmp/xxx $ pwd /tmp/xxx /tmp/xxx $ echo $PWD /tmp/xxx /tmp/xxx $ pwd -P /usr/bin /usr/bin $ pwd /tmp/xxx /usr/bin $ echo $PWD /usr/bin /usr/bin $ Either it's a bug, or the docs forget to mention that "pwd -P" alters $PWD if in "sh" mode. Tested with bash 3.1.17 and 3.2.0. -- Egmont _______________________________________________ Bug-bash mailing list Bug-bash@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-bash