Why can I cd to "//"?

Asked Oct 08 '16 at 21:41

Active Oct 08 '16 at 21:41

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I recently made a typo in a cd command and found that I was not only able to cd to /, but also if I ran the command:

cd //

For instance (I could put stuff after it such as files and folders in the / directory and it would still show the same // as well as actually go to the right places), I would be able to actually go to // which is seemingly acting the same as / and this appears to be the only difference:

<username>@<computer-name>://$

Apart from pwd also showing the // in the output.

So why is there a / and a //? What is the difference? Is this a bug or is there some purpose for having both of them? I am running Ubuntu GNOME 16.04.1 with GNOME 3.20.

asked Oct 08 '16 at 21:41

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20690828/what-does-double-slash-in-cd-mean-in-linux – Pilot6 Oct 08 '16 at 21:45
http://askubuntu.com/questions/23808/what-is-the-double-slash-directory/23809#23809 – Anon Oct 08 '16 at 22:02

Why can I cd to "//"?

0 Answers0