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fix(cd): recover from a deleted working directory - #1277
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nfischer
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Oct 9, 2026
| var curDir = process.cwd(); | ||
| var curDir; | ||
| try { | ||
| curDir = process.cwd(); |
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I wasn't able to repro this exception when I tried on my system. What I tried was:
shell.cd('~/foobar');
shell.rm('-r', '~/foobar');
shell.cd('~');
shell.echo(shell.pwd()); // success| } | ||
| process.chdir(dir); | ||
| process.env.OLDPWD = curDir; | ||
| if (curDir) { |
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I see where you're coming from with this behavior, but this isn't actually how cd - behaves or how bash sets $OLDPWD. On Linux, this sets $OLDPWD regardless of whether that folder still exists. There isn't an error at all until you try cd - to go back to a deleted folder, at which point it says:
$ cd -
cd: no such file or directory: ~/this_folder_was_deleted
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Fixes #1050.
When the current working directory has been removed,
process.cwd()throws beforecd()can attempt to enter a valid destination. Allow that specificENOENTcase to continue toprocess.chdir(). Other errors keep the existing handling.After successful recovery, clear
OLDPWDbecause the departed directory's pathname is unavailable. Failed changes preserve it, and normal successful changes still update it as before. Bash can retain the deleted path through its cached logical working directory; ShellJS does not maintain that state, so retaining the preexistingOLDPWDwould point to an older directory instead.The regression tests use isolated child processes and remove only uniquely created empty fixture directories. They cover absolute destinations,
cd('-'), fatal and nonfatal behavior, invalid destinations,OLDPWD, and errors other thanENOENT.Validation on Linux:
test/cd.js: 18 passed.npm test, including posttest lint, on Node 18.20.8, 24.19.0, and 26.10.0: 640 passed, 6 existing skips each.npm run test-with-coverageon Node 24.19.0: passed;src/cd.jshas 100% statement and line coverage.npm run lint,npm run check-node-support, andgit diff --check: passed.Not tested on macOS, Windows, or Node 20/22. The deleted-cwd fixture tests are skipped on Windows, where removing an active working directory is not supported.