Re: cd - and $OLDPWD, bug in the manual?

[Bart Schaefer <schaefer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mar 23, 10:08pm, Francisco Borges wrote:
}
} Do you guys agree with me that either the manual or
} Src/builtin.c:cd_get_dest need to change?

To cut right to the chase ... no.

} Sometimes (but not all the time) I want to login and go immediately to
} the last dir I was before logging out. Which I could do using "% cd -1",
} but lazy as I am, I tried to do
} 
} % cd -
} 
} and this failed... I checked the manual and it says:
} 
} cd [ -sLP ] {+|-}n
} 
}    [...] specified.  If arg is `-', change to the value of $OLDPWD, the
}    previous directory.

The manual also says (note "Set" not "Used" here):

Parameters Set By The Shell

OLDPWD
     The previous working directory.  This is set when the shell
     initializes and whenever the directory changes.

And in fact "cd -" DOES change to the value of OLDPWD *that was set by
the shell when it initialized*.  It just happens that initially PWD and
OLDPWD are set to the same thing, because there has been no "cd" yet.

} I tried setting OLDPWD, but "% cd -" would still not work.

The manual DOESN'T say that you can have any useful effect by assigning
OLDPWD.  You can assign to PWD as well, but that doesn't cause a "cd"
to magically occur.

The doc for "cd" could be marginally clearer if it said e.g. ...

    If arg is `-', change to the previous directory, normally the value
    of $OLDPWD.

... but would that have helped you?