cd using empty string inconsistencies

Question

According to "chdir" xopen specification, using an empty string ("") as argument should results in an error (enoent):

[ENOENT]
A component of path does not name an existing directory or path is an empty string.

I've checked many different combinations of OSes and shells using command;

cd ""

which eventually calls "chdir" system call, with argv == 2, and argv[1] pointing to an empty string.

The results is that only some ksh93 (not all versions) on Linux (not on AIX) returns an error. "/bin/sh" always success but on AIX it moves to $HOME and on linux cwd is unchanged

Why so many differences?

Answer 1

As suggested previously, you can trace through the cd open group page to find the behavior (my notes are the bullet-points):

1. If no directory operand is given and the HOME environment variable is empty or undefined, the default behavior is implementation-defined and no further steps shall be taken.
   • This is not true, as there is a directory operand, it's just a zero-length string
2. If no directory operand is given and the HOME environment variable is set to a non-empty value, the cd utility shall behave as if the directory named in the HOME environment variable was specified as the directory operand.
   • See above
3. If the directory operand begins with a <slash> character, set curpath to the operand and proceed to step 7.
   • Again false, go to the next step
4. If the first component of the directory operand is dot or dot-dot, proceed to step 6.
   • false again
5. Starting with the first pathname in the <colon>-separated pathnames of CDPATH (see the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section) if the pathname is non-null, test if the concatenation of that pathname, a <slash> character if that pathname did not end with a <slash> character, and the directory operand names a directory. If the pathname is null, test if the concatenation of dot, a <slash> character, and the operand names a directory. In either case, if the resulting string names an existing directory, set curpath to that string and proceed to step 7. Otherwise, repeat this step with the next pathname in CDPATH until all pathnames have been tested.
   • Here's where we hit the meat. By the specification, if CDPATH is set and a pathname in there points to a directory, it will find the first existing pathname. So if CDPATH is /foo:/bar:/baz and /foo does not exist, cd will first try /foo/ and fail this step. It will then try /bar/. If /bar exists as a directory, it will set curpath to /bar/ and proceed. If CDPATH is null, it will test ./ to see if it points to a directory (and it will, typically, because this is your pwd).
6. Set curpath to the directory operand.
   • In other words, if CDPATH is set but none of its components exist, it will just use the directory operand, which is an empty string.

7. If the -P option is in effect, proceed to step 10. If curpath does not begin with a <slash> character, set curpath to the string formed by the concatenation of the value of PWD, a <slash> character if the value of PWD did not end with a <slash> character, and curpath.

   • If we hit step 6, this will set curpath to the PWD, as it will be $(pwd)/.
   • In essence, by this step, if CDPATH is set and has an existing directory as a component, the first existing component will be what curpath is now, otherwise curpath will be PWD (or possibly PWD/./ to the same effect)

8. The curpath value shall then be converted to canonical form as follows, considering each component from beginning to end, in sequence:

   1. Dot components and any <slash> characters that separate them from the next component shall be deleted.
   2. For each dot-dot component, if there is a preceding component and it is neither root nor dot-dot, then:
      1. If the preceding component does not refer (in the context of pathname resolution with symbolic links followed) to a directory, then the cd utility shall display an appropriate error message and no further steps shall be taken.
      2. The preceding component, all <slash> characters separating the preceding component from dot-dot, dot-dot, and all characters separating dot-dot from the following component (if any) shall be deleted.
   3. An implementation may further simplify curpath by removing any trailing <slash> characters that are not also leading characters, replacing multiple non-leading consecutive characters with a single <slash>, and replacing three or more leading <slash> characters with a single <slash>. If, as a result of this canonicalization, the curpath variable is null, no further steps shall be taken.
      • Simple path canonicalization. Interestingly, they account in the last step for if the path is left null by explicitly showing it as a noop, though I'm not sure how this could possibly happen, as all relative paths have PWD prepended to them before this step.
9. If curpath is longer than {PATH_MAX} bytes (including the terminating null) and the directory operand was not longer than {PATH_MAX} bytes (including the terminating null), then curpath shall be converted from an absolute pathname to an equivalent relative pathname if possible. This conversion shall always be considered possible if the value of PWD, with a trailing <slash> added if it does not already have one, is an initial substring of curpath. Whether or not it is considered possible under other circumstances is unspecified. Implementations may also apply this conversion if curpath is not longer than {PATH_MAX} bytes or the directory operand was longer than {PATH_MAX} bytes.
   • Doesn't seem to do much other than make the path relative again if it's too long.
10. The cd utility shall then perform actions equivalent to the chdir() function called with curpath as the path argument. If these actions fail for any reason, the cd utility shall display an appropriate error message and the remainder of this step shall not be executed. If the -P option is not in effect, the PWD environment variable shall be set to the value that curpath had on entry to step 9 (i.e., before conversion to a relative pathname). If the -P option is in effect, the PWD environment variable shall be set to the string that would be output by pwd -P. If there is insufficient permission on the new directory, or on any parent of that directory, to determine the current working directory, the value of the PWD environment variable is unspecified.
    • And here is where the chdir actually takes place.

In conclusion

So in essence, a command of cd '' by the standard should cd to the first existing component of CDPATH, if it is set, or to the current directory otherwise. If cd -P '' is used, it will also remove symlinks from the path. In this way, chdir should only be called with an empty string if CDPATH is non-null, but none of its components exist, and cd -P '' is called, as that will pass through step 5, set the curpath to an empty string in step 6, then jump from step 7 to step 10. I don't see any other way that chdir would be called with an empty string, unless a bad implementation takes step 9 too literally and sets curpath to an empty string following the last sentence. ksh93 on Linux and /bin/sh on AIX are nonconformant by these rules. In this way, I'd be careful about using a cd to a path that might evaluate zero-length, as a CDPATH being set can weirdly affect what you're trying to do (though CDPATH has unexpected and confusing behavior anyway, and should not be used in most cases).

Answer 2

Check section 4, Shell & Utilities of the IEEE Std 1003.1™ or Open Group Base Specification.

This contains a separate page for cd, which says:

The cd utility shall then perform actions equivalent to the chdir() function called with curpath as the path argument. If these actions fail for any reason, the cd utility shall display an appropriate error message and the remainder of this step shall not be executed.

This would suggest that the ksh93 that fails on cd "" is actually working according to spec. This is what I see on Ubuntu 14.04, ksh Version AJM 93u+ 2012-08-01.