how to change directory in Terminal (ex. cd System HD)

Question

how to change directory in Terminal (ex. cd System HD)

hi

how to change directory in Terminal (ex. cd System HD)
i wrote cd system hd, which did not work. Terminal understood it as cd system.
is there some character to write a "space" between words?

thanks 🙂

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Dec 2, 2007 4:32 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

brainslice

Level 2

411 points

Dec 2, 2007 4:43 PM in response to Yong Taek Hwang

You need to escape the spaces with a leading backslash or the shell will give you unexpected results.

For example to cd to "folder with spaces"

cd folder\ with\ spaces/

Also, the bash tab-auto-complete is your friend. Type a character or two and then tab, you'll get the idea when you see the result. If there is more than one possible completion, then hit tab a couple of times quickly and you'll get a list of all of the options.

hth

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Answer 2

Dec 2, 2007 4:58 PM in response to brainslice

thanks
great help 🙂 !!!

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Answer 3

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Dec 2, 2007 5:26 PM in response to brainslice

As an aside, parenthesis also work when spaces are present.
I do it using the wildcard *
In your example, cd *fold (of course it has to be a unique folder/filename)
That comes from years of Linux training and a strong dislike of typing.

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