Two Useful bashrc Functions that will Change Your Life

Ever wanted to go up a few directories when using the bash terminal? You probably had to do something like this:
cd .. (enter) cd .. (enter) cd .. (enter)

…until the end of time.

Worry not, for gone are those days. I was just browsing through some stackoverflow questions and ran into these extremely useful bashrc functions.

#functions for going up a certain number of directories and back
function up( )
{
    LIMIT=$1
    P=$PWD
    for ((i=1; i <= LIMIT; i++))
    do
        P=$P/..
    done
    cd $P
    export MPWD=$P
    }

function back( )
{
    LIMIT=$1
    P=$MPWD
    for ((i=1; i <= LIMIT; i++))
    do
        P=${P%/..}
    done
    cd $P
    export MPWD=$P
}

#functions for going up a certain number of directories and back

function up( )

{

LIMIT=$1

P=$PWD

for ((i=1; i <= LIMIT; i++))

P=$P/..

done

cd $P

export MPWD=$P

}

function back( )

{

LIMIT=$1

P=$MPWD

for ((i=1; i <= LIMIT; i++))

P=${P%/..}

done

cd $P

export MPWD=$P

}

Now, all you have to do to go up N directories is type in up N, hit enter, and like magic, you’re up those many directories.

Here’s an example

Let’s say I’m here:

I want to go up 3 directories. Normally, this would involve typing in cd .. (enter) three times. Now, all I have to do is type up 3 and I am there, like so:

Now, say I want to go back up 2 directories. All I have to do is type back 2, and I’m there.

So, how do you install these neat little commands? Here’s a step by step guide:

Open up your terminal with Ctrl + Alt + T.
If you’re not already there, go to your home directory with cd (enter).
Load up your .bashrc file in your favourite text editor. For me, this was gvim .bashrc.
Add these functions to your .bashrc file, save, and quit.