How do I create a path shortcut?

Question

I have a very beginner question. I would like to create a shortcut to a directory that is global so that when I do something like

cd $dir

It will take me to the specified directory. Or if I am prompted to specify a download path in some program I can just input $dir into the field.

Thanks

Answer 1

You have to keep the path of that directory in a global variavble. For example:

export DIR="/path/to/directory"

To make the change permanently, add the above line to your ~/.profile file.

Answer 2

An alternative is to use symbolic links. Advantages:

• It will work in all applications, rather than just your shell.
• If you change or add shortcuts, it will immediately update everywhere, rather than having to restart applications before they see the new environment variable.

To do this, I have a directory to contain my shortcuts:

$ mkdir ~/_
$ ln -s /path/to/dir ~/_/dir

Then I can refer to the directory as ~/_/dir. You can also create more shortcuts, e.g. ln -s /media/username/backup_disk/backups ~/_/bak.

If you're the only human user on your computer, save a keystroke by creating the shortcut directory higher:

$ sudo mkdir /_
$ sudo chown username: /_
$ ln -s /path/to/dir /_/dir