pwdx Command in Linux
The pwdx command in Linux displays the current working directory of a process. It retrieves the directory path associated with a specific process ID (PID). This is useful for debugging or monitoring processes to understand their file system context.
Table of Contents
Here is a comprehensive guide to the options available with the pwdx command −
Syntax of pwdx Command
The syntax of the pwdx command in Linux is as follows −
pwdx [options] [pidsâ¦]
In the above syntax, the [options] field is used to specify the options to display the usage help or version. The [pidsâ¦] field is used to specify the process ID of one or more processes.
pwdx Command Options
The options of the Linux pwdx command are listed below −
| Flags | Options | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -h | --help | Displays help message for the command. |
| -V | --version | Displays version information of the pwdx command. |
Examples of pwdx Command in Linux
In this section, the usage of the pwdx command in Linux will be discussed with examples −
- Finding the Working Directory of a Process
- Finding the Working Directory of Multiple Processes
- Displaying Usage Help
Finding the Working Directory of a Process
To find the working directory of the process required process ID (PID) of the specific process. For example, to see the process ID of Vim, use the following command −
ps aux | grep vim
The process vim has the PID 2706 as shown in the above image. This is the actual process for the Vim text editor. The process grep --color=auto vim has the PID 3037. This is the process for the grep command itself, which is searching for vim in the process list.
Now, to find the working directory of the vim process, use the pwdx with its process ID −
pwdx 2706
This indicates that the process with PID 1234 is working in /home/example_user/project.
Finding the Working Directory of Multiple Processes
To check the working directory of the multiple processes, use the pwdx command in the following way −
pwdx 2647 3108
To display the PIDs of all processes, use the top or htop command.
Displaying Usage Help
To display the usage help of the pwdx command, use the -h or --help option −
pwdx -h
Conclusion
The pwdx command in Linux is a simple yet effective tool to view the current working directories of running processes based on their PIDs. This is particularly helpful in debugging, process tracking, and security audits. It supports basic options for help and version information, and can be used with single or multiple processes.
In this tutorial, we covered the syntax, available options like -h for help and -V for version, and practical examples, such as identifying the working directories of single or multiple processes and using the help feature to explore its functionality.