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For example if a directory 'blob' exists and I just type 'blob[return]' then the system cds into the blob directory for me.

In Linux (Ubuntu) I can add shopt -s autocd to my .bashrc file, but on OS X this gives an error: -bash: shopt: autocd: invalid shell option name

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Congrats on 1k. – Undo Jun 2 at 23:09
congrats on 1.3rd of the way for you too ;) – Michael Durrant Jun 2 at 23:31
Yes, I'm 3k on SO and 2k on MSO, so I have my share of privileges elsewhere :) – Undo Jun 2 at 23:52

2 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

autocd was added in Bash 4.0. You can install Bash 4 with Homebrew:

  • brew install bash
  • Add /usr/local/bin/bash to /etc/shells
  • chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash
  • Open a new login shell (or a tab by default in Terminal or iTerm 2) and check echo $BASH_VERSION
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Great answer. Bash 4 is also available in MacPorts:subbing sudo port install bash into your step 1 works as well. – ephsmith Jul 3 '12 at 17:39
I did the above. I ended up with bash 4.2.29 and I made the changes to /etc/shells and did the cssh but no joy – Michael Durrant Jul 9 '12 at 2:51
@MichaelDurrant I edited the answer. bash -version would be the first version on $PATH. Did you try echo $BASH_VERSION? – Lauri Ranta Jul 9 '12 at 4:44
it works if i run the command directly /usr/local/bin/bash - i get v4.2 but how do I make that my default shell for a new window? – Michael Durrant Jul 10 '12 at 2:53
1  
@MichaelDurrant Is your terminal application set to open with something like /usr/bin/login or login -fp $USER in the preferences? – Lauri Ranta Jul 10 '12 at 12:02
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up vote 2 down vote

The output of shopt -p can be of some help here. It prints a list of settable options. Sadly, on Lion, autocd is not one of them (see excerpt below).

Edit Lauri's answer above has a solution for updating your shell to include autocd

$ shopt -p
shopt -u cdable_vars
shopt -u cdspell
shopt -u checkhash
shopt -s checkwinsize
shopt -s cmdhist
shopt -u compat31
shopt -u dotglob
shopt -u execfail
shopt -s expand_aliases
shopt -u extdebug
shopt -u extglob
shopt -s extquote
shopt -u failglob
shopt -s force_fignore
shopt -u gnu_errfmt
shopt -u histappend
shopt -u histreedit
shopt -u histverify
shopt -s hostcomplete
shopt -u huponexit
shopt -s interactive_comments
shopt -u lithist
shopt -s login_shell
shopt -u mailwarn
shopt -u no_empty_cmd_completion
shopt -u nocaseglob
shopt -u nocasematch
shopt -u nullglob
shopt -s progcomp
shopt -s promptvars
shopt -u restricted_shell
shopt -u shift_verbose
shopt -s sourcepath
shopt -u xpg_echo
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