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:
* 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 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.
Interfaces¶
Wcd has three different interfaces to choose from a list of matches. The
interface can be chosen at compile time.
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.
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 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 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
- 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.
- -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 INTERFACE) 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 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 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
- 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).
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:
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.
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 requires 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:/.
wcd ()
{
<PATH>/wcd.exe "$@"
. ${WCDHOME:-${HOME:-"c:"}}/wcd.go
}
The WinZsh version of wcd is also a bit different. No "bin" directory.
wcd ()
{
<PATH>/wcd.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 "$HOME/.cshrc" or
"$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 scrip "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" 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.
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 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
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 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.
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
Unix: $HOME/bin/wcd.go
- relative treedata file
- Text file with relative paths from DIR. See options +S,
-n and +n.
DOS: <path>\rtdata.wcd
Unix: <path>/.rtdata.wcd
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶
- HOME
- Wcd uses by default environment variable HOME to determine where to
store its files. See also section FILES. This can be overruled with
environment variable WCDHOME.
HOME also defines where to start scanning the disk when option
-s is used. This can be overruled with the environment variable
WCDSCAN.
For the Unix, Cygwin, Windows PowerShell, WinZsh and MSYS version it is
required that HOME or WCDHOME is set. For the other versions
of wcd the use of these variables is optional.
If HOME is set on DOS/Windows, wcd will place all its files
(treedata.wcd, extra.wcd, alias.wcd, ban.wcd, wcd.go) in directory
HOME. The behaviour of wcd is then equal to the Unix version of
wcd. Wcd will scan the disk default from HOME. Drives will not be
automatically scanned by changing to them. You need to tell wcd
explicitly. E.g.:
wcd -S c: -A d: -A e:
Matching of directories is now global over all scanned drives.
- WCDHOME
- Environment variable WCDHOME can be used to change the location of
wcd's files. If both HOME and WCDHOME are set,
WCDHOME will be used instead of HOME.
In wcd versions prior to 5.1.5 WCDHOME also changed the default scan
directory. This has changed. Since version 5.1.5 WCDHOME does not
change the default scan directory. See option -s. From version
5.1.5, use environment WCDSCAN to overrule the default scan
directory.
Example for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDHOME=C:\Users\erwin\wcd
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDHOME="$HOME/.wcd"
An example for Csh type shells:
setenv WCDHOME "$HOME/.wcd"
- WCDSCAN
- Use environment variable WCDSCAN to overrule the default scan
directory HOME. Define a colon separated list (Unix) to define more
than one directory. On DOS/Windows make the list semi-colon separated.
Examples for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDSCAN=C:\Users\erwin;D:\data
set WCDSCAN=%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%;\\projectdrive\projectX
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDSCAN="$HOME:/projectdisk/projectX"
An example for Csh type shells:
setenv WCDSCAN "$HOME:/projectdisk/projectX"
- WCDFILTER
- Specify filters with environment variable WCDFILTER. All
directories that do not match the filter(s) are ignored. A list can be
specified by separating filters by the shell path separator. Similar as
specifying the PATH variable. The case sensitivity is mandated by
the Operating system.
An example for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDFILTER=projects;doc
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDFILTER="projects:doc"
An example for Csh type shells:
setenv WCDFILTER "projects:doc"
- WCDBAN
- The paths specified with environment WCDBAN will be banned by wcd.
See also option -b. Specify a list of paths separated by shell
PATH separator.
- WCDEXCLUDE
- The paths specified with environment WCDEXCLUDE will be excluded by
wcd. See also options -x and -xf. Specify a list of paths
separated by shell PATH separator.
An example for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDEXCLUDE=*/windows;*/temp;*CVS
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDEXCLUDE="/dev:/tmp:*CVS"
An example for Csh type shells:
setenv WCDEXCLUDE "/dev:/tmp:*CVS"
- WCDUSERSHOME
- Set the base of user's home directories. On DOS/Windows the default value
is "\\users". On Unix/Cygwin the default value is
"/home". This variable is used to scan treedata files of other
users. See also options -u and +u. In verbose mode wcd will
print all filters, bans and excludes. See option -v.
- WCDSTACKFILE
- Wcd gives preference to WCDSTACKFILE over the default stack file
name (see section FILES). With this variable each shell (or used terminal
emulator) can have its private stack of used directories.
To use a unique time based YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS file for each opened interactive
shell.
export WCDSTACKFILE=$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.$WINDOW
- TERMINFO
- If the environment variable TERMINFO is defined, wcd with ncurses
interface checks for a local terminal definition before checking in the
standard place. This is useful if terminal definitions are not on a
standard place. Often used standard places are
"/usr/lib/terminfo" and "/usr/share/terminfo".
- PDC_RESTORE_SCREEN
- Wcd with PDCurses interface recognizes the environment variable
PDC_RESTORE_SCREEN. If this environment variable is set, PDCurses
will take a copy of the contents of the screen at the time that wcd is
started; when wcd exits, the screen will be restored. An example for
Windows Command Prompt:
set PDC_RESTORE_SCREEN=1
Windows allows only a small buffer to be saved. So it is not always possible
to restore everything. Some garbage data may be printed in the console
after wcd exists if you have set a large buffer width.
- SHELL
- Printing of "#!$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/>
Freecode: <
http://freecode.com/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>