On every programming course, you're taught never to use the goto statement even if the language has one available, as you're creating spaghetti code that's hard to follow and maintain. I agree with the sentiment.

So .... why, oh why, .... when you're navigating around directories at a command prompt do you use the cd command - it's the shell's equivalent of directory goto as it leaves you jumping away from your current directory, and not leaving a return address for when you want to go back.

Have you come across pushd and popd? When you "pushd" to a directory, you save away on a stack the name of the directory you're moving from; when you "popd" you return. Simple, effective, ang great when you want to pay a temporary visit to a remote directory in a Unix or Linux shell.

P.S. They're supported in Microsoft's Windows XP too!
(written 2004-10-05, updated 2006-06-05)

Commentator	says ...
Bruce James:	Surely in a Bash shell or another shell that supports it.. On my Solaris 9... bash: yes ksh: no bourne: no csh: yes tcsh: yes pfcsh: yes jsh: no pfsh: no zsh: yes (comment added 2004-10-05 14:06:13)
gje:	Fair comment. I'm not too familiar with jsh and pfsh ... and the bourne shell really has nothing for interaction. Ksh calls for some comment. It *is* failrly heavily used and doesn't have a native pushd / popd. If you alias 'popd=cd $OLDPWD' then you can use cd to get to a new directory and popd back again - bit rough and ready (and just one level deep) but still a jump and return structure if you need one. (comment added 2004-10-05 14:19:37)
Custard:	True, personally never come across pfsh,jsh or pfcsh before, but they appeared in 'man shells' on my Sol 9 machine. Quite a comprehensive list I thought. Shame tclsh and wish aren't there as standard, but I guess Sun are still smarting from the SunScript debacle. For a single level popd, you can also 'cd -' which takes you back to where you came from. I use that one all the time. And sometimes if I need 2 levels, I just run another shell. My fave shells are bash then ksh, and I'd say that ksh is probably the most common of the most fully featured shells, and csh the most broken and advised-against-scripting for. But bash is appearing more and more on other systems now. Of course bourne (sh) is still the lowest common denominator if you need to write a script to run across platforms.. b (sits back and waits for the flames ;-) (comment added 2004-10-06 13:54:24)

A101 - Web Application Deployment - Linux -An Introduction For Users
  [73] vi - full circle - (2004-10-04)
  [152] Aladdin, or careful what you wish. - (2004-12-15)
  [249] An easy way out - (2005-03-17)
  [430] Linux commands - some basics - (2005-08-31)
  [431] File permissions of Linux and Unix systems - (2005-08-31)
  [593] Finding where the disc space has gone - (2006-02-06)
  [659] Web Application Components - (2006-03-28)
  [679] More or less on the edge of the page - (2006-04-11)
  [703] Copying files and preserving ownership - (2006-04-28)
  [710] Linux training Glasgow, Python programming course Dundee - (2006-05-05)
  [711] THE home directory or MY home directory - (2006-05-06)
  [749] Cottage industry or production line data handling methods - (2006-06-07)
  [984] Cardinal numbers and magic numbers - (2006-12-14)
  [1012] Moving files between Windows / DOS and Linux / Unix - (2006-12-30)
  [1013] Copy multiple files - confusing error message from cp - (2006-12-30)
  [1068] ls -l report, Linux / Unix - types and permssions - (2007-02-06)
  [1259] Where am I and how did I get here? - (2007-07-05)
  [1287] Work and play at Well House Manor - Football and Shell Shortcuts - (2007-08-02)
  [1288] Linux run states, shell special commands, and directory structures - (2007-08-03)
  [1366] awk - a powerful data extraction and manipulation tool - (2007-09-25)
  [1408] Wireless hotel tips - FTP and Skype connections failing - (2007-10-26)
  [1438] Copy and paste / cut and paste and other vi techniques - (2007-11-20)
  [1527] Selecting file names in a shell - one word or another - (2008-02-02)
  [1651] ls command - favourite options - (2008-05-23)
  [1764] Yank and Push - copy and move in vi - (2008-08-21)
  [1803] FTP passive mode - a sometimes cure for upload hangs - (2008-09-20)
  [1893] Some Linux and Unix tips - (2008-11-18)
  [1897] Keeping on an even keel - (2008-11-21)
  [1902] sstrwxrwxrwx - Unix and Linux file permissions - (2008-11-23)
  [1904] Ruby, Perl, Linux, MySQL - some training notes - (2008-11-23)
  [2201] Running straight from the jar, but not from a tar - (2009-05-26)
  [2203] Always use su with minus. And where do programs come from? - (2009-05-27)
  [2299] How much space does my directory take - Linux - (2009-07-20)
  [2300] What does x on a linux directory mean? - (2009-07-21)
  [2479] Accidentally typed ci rather than vi? - (2009-10-27)
  [2494] Making Linux Politically correct - (2009-11-06)
  [2636] Linux - useful tips including history and file name completion - (2010-02-15)
  [2831] Recording (a macro) in vi - (2010-06-27)
  [3179] Oops - I typed ci not vi, and have lost my file ... - (2011-02-21)
  [3256] Displaying a directory or file system tree - Linux - (2011-04-22)
  [3791] The Kernel, Shells and Daemons. Greek Gods in computing - (2012-07-01)
  [3819] Packing a tar, jar or war file - best practise - (2012-07-26)

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Domain Registry of America
Telephone systems
Learning to program in
It's just not cricket
pushd and popd
On Customer Service
Comparators in Linux and Unix
Red Luas - early life and times
John Toner