osx Terminal new tab in same directory

Question

I am not going to be the first to ask this but I have been trying to solve this googleing a lot and none of the resources has been useful. My problem is simple (to explain), I want to open a new tab in the same directory in the Terminal app. Now, every tab I open is opened in my ~ directory. I have also tried with iTerm2 but still the same problem. This is my .bash_profile:

# Git configuration
parse_git_branch() {
    git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1) /'
}

# Command line prompt
PS1='[\t] \[\e[0;32m\]\u@\h\[\e[m\]:\w \[\e[0;34m\]$(parse_git_branch)\[\e[m\]> '

# virtualenvwrapper
source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh

# alias for mysql
alias mysql=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql
alias mysqladmin=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin
alias mysqlstart='sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start'
alias mysqlstop='sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server stop'

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin

Thank you very much for your help in advance.

Answer 1

So, I had this problem and actually just solved it. I know this post is old but if it helps anyone else I'll be happy.

I found out that if you have spaces in your hostname it breaks the New tab in the same directory feature that comes with the terminal.

Here are a couple examples. My .bash_profile is edited and changes how my prompt looks a little so I have two examples in each. You're gonna wanna focus on Kippins MacBook Pro part. This shouldn't have spaces!!!

BAD EXAMPLES!

Last login: Sat Oct 19 22:59:36 on ttys004
kippins@Kippins MacBook Pro:~$

Last login: Sat Oct 19 23:06:32 on ttys000
Kippins MacBook Pro:~ kippins$ 

GOOD EXAMPLES!

Last login: Sat Oct 19 22:59:36 on ttys004
kippins@Kippins-MacBook-Pro:~$

Last login: Sat Oct 19 23:06:32 on ttys000
Kippins-MacBook-Pro:~ kippins$ 

If you've already checked that your settings in Terminal > Preferences > General are correct. See the picture in the link below (My rep isn't high enough to embed pictures). You want New tabs open with: section to be set to Same Profile and Same Working Directory

Correct Terminal Settings

If you have spaces in your terminal hostname I think your problem is the same as mine and here's how I fixed it. In the terminal enter the following commands with the "Name-With-No-Spaces" part subbed in with a name of your choosing with no spaces!!! You'll need root access for this.

sudo scutil --set ComputerName "Name-With-No-Spaces"
sudo scutil --set LocalHostName "Name-With-No-Spaces"
sudo scutil --set HostName "Name-With-No-Spaces"
dscacheutil -flushcache

After doing all of this you'll need to restart your Mac. Hopefully, in the end, you'll have fixed your issue. I went through months of digging and had come across this post several times and I feel like the question most accurately describes what I was going through.

Answer 2

Just the quoted part for PS1 works for me to open tabs in the same folder. The answer by grgarside in How to open a new Terminal tab in current working directory? suggests that something may have altered PROMPT_COMMAND; for instance in the virtualenvwrapper.sh script.

An easy way to troubleshoot this problem would be to start with a simpler .bash_profile (first empty, to verify that the open-with-same-pwd feature works), and then adding parts to see what breaks it.

Answer 3

I had this issue and found that the problem was in the random zsh theme i had set up in .zshrc. After setting my theme to a specific value, new tabs were opened in the same directory.