Setting up spell check for navigating directories

03/24/2017 • 2 minute read

---

This is a neat trick I somehow just learned about. By running:

$ shopt -s cdspell

You can set Bash to fix minor spelling errors in cd commands. Here is an example:

$ mkdir spellingIsHard
$ cd spelingIsHard
bash: cd: spelingIsHard: No such file or directory
$ shopt -s cdspell
$ cd spelingIsHard
spellingIsHard
/spellingIsHard$

This only works in the interactive shell (for good reason) and I wish there was a set equivalent so it would be more portable, but overall this a very handy option.

Further Reading:

• shopt builtin man page
• Other Example Usages -cyberciti (Mar 2016)

---

Got Questions, Comments, or Insults?

You May Also Enjoy

• Various methods for determining CPU Endianness
• Generating Identity Matrices in Bash
• FizzBuzz in Bash with no Modulus or for/while loops
• Alternatives to the 'hr' library
• Changing the default lecture prompt
• How to get the exit status of a failed pipe in Bash