wcd(7) 2013-09-11 wcd(7)NAMEwcd - Wherever Change Directory
chdir for DOS and Unix
SYNOPSISwcd [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
matched any directory name that ends with "top".
wcd *top
Match any directory that has contain "top" anywhere:
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 were 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 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 default treedata.
-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 are
supported and it is matched against 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 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. Do not read the default treedata file.
+f FILE
Read treedata 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 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
Print 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 treedata 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 behaviour 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 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 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 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. Moving up and down moves just one line up or
down. Moving 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 a "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 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 1):
wcd-xf ~/.ban.wcd -s
Wildcards are supported. For instance to exclude all your CVS
directories with administrative files add a line with "*/CVS".
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 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 command. Therefore the program is always called by a
function or 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 wcd executable have been
installed. Reload the shell initialization files or start 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/7
In a Windows VISTA/7 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 environment variable HOME or WCDHOME is defined.
function wcd
{
<PATH>\wcdwin32psh.exe $args
& $env:HOME\wcdgo.ps1
}
Replace <PATH> with the location where wcd executable have 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 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
manual:
http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#Language-Codes
<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 manual:
http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#The-LANGUAGE-variable
<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 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 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: $HOME/bin/wcd.go
relative treedata file
Text file with relative paths from DIR>. See options +S, -n and
+n.
DOS: <path>\rtdata.wcd
Unix: <path>/.rtdata.wcd
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
HOME
Wcd uses by default environment variable HOME to determine where to
store its files. See also section FILES. This can be overruled
with environment variable WCDHOME.
HOME also defines where to start scanning the disk when option "-s"
is used. This can be overruled with environment variable WCDSCAN.
For the Unix, Cygwin, Windows PowerShell, WinZsh and MSYS version
it is required that HOME or WCDHOME is set. For the other versions
of wcd the use of these variables is optional.
If HOME is set on DOS/Windows, wcd will place all its files
(treedata.wcd, extra.wcd, alias.wcd, ban.wcd, wcd.go) in directory
HOME. The behaviour of wcd is then equal to the Unix version of
wcd. Wcd will scan the disk default from HOME. Drives will not be
automatically scanned by changing to them. You need to tell wcd
explicitly. E.g.:
wcd-S c: -A d: -A e:
Matching of directories is now global over all scanned drives.
WCDHOME
Environment variable WCDHOME can be used to change the location of
wcd's files. If both HOME and WCDHOME are set, WCDHOME will be used
instead of HOME.
In wcd versions prior to 5.1.5 WCDHOME also changed the default
scan directory. This has changed. Since version 5.1.5 WCDHOME does
not change the default scan directory. See option -s. From version
5.1.5, use environment WCDSCAN to overrule the default scan
directory.
Example for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDHOME=C:\Users\erwin\wcd
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDHOME="$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 "$HOME:/projectdisk/projectX"
WCDFILTER
Specify filters with environment variable WCDFILTER. All
directories that do not match the filter(s) are ignored. A list can
be specified by separating filters by the shell path separator.
Similar as specifying the PATH variable. The case sensitivity is
mandated by the Operating system.
An example for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDFILTER=projects;doc
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDFILTER="projects:doc"
An example for Csh type shells:
setenv WCDFILTER "projects:doc"
WCDBAN
The paths specified with environment WCDBAN will be banned by wcd.
See also option -b. Specify a list of paths separated by shell PATH
separator
WCDEXCLUDE
The paths specified with environment WCDEXCLUDE will be excluded by
wcd. See also options -x and -xf. Specify a list of paths separated
by shell PATH separator
An example for DOS, Windows, OS/2 Command Prompt:
set WCDEXCLUDE=*/windows;*/temp;*CVS
An example for POSIX type shells:
export WCDEXCLUDE="/dev:/tmp:*CVS"
An example for Csh type shells:
setenv WCDEXCLUDE "/dev:/tmp:*CVS"
WCDUSERSHOME
Set the base of user's home directories. On DOS/Windows the
default value is "\\users". On Unix/Cygwin the default value is
"/home". This variable is used to scan treedata files of other
users. See also options -u an +u. In verbose mode wcd will print
all filters, bans and excludes. See option -v.
WCDSTACKFILE
Wcd gives preference to WCDSTACKFILE over the default stack file
name (see section FILES). With this variable each shell (or used
terminal emulator) can have its private stack of used directories.
To use a unique time based YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS file for each opened
interactive shell.
export WCDSTACKFILE=$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 ALSOsh(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>
wcd 2013-09-11 wcd(7)
