mcd(1)

📦
version 4.0.49 · 7 versions
, in alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ mcd(1) ✨

general commands manual, but make it cute — okay bestie, this is the mcd page from the mtools manual, and we're gonna get you fluent in it, no cap. 💅

🚨 NOTE OF WARNING 🚨

Real talk first, because this matters: this manpage has been automatically generated from mtools's texinfo documentation, and it may not be entirely accurate or complete. 😭 The details on how to go look at the actual texinfo doc are at the end of this page — go check those, fr fr.

🌸 NAME 🌸

mcd — change MSDOS directory. That's it, that's the whole vibe. 🦋

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So the mcd command is the one you use to change the mtools working directory on the MS-DOS disk. The syntax goes like this:

mcd [msdosdirectory]

With no arguments at all? It just reports the current device and working directory back to you. Like a little status update. 🫶 But if you do give it something, mcd changes the current device and the current working directory, relative to an MS-DOS file system.

The environmental variable MCWD can be used to locate the file where the device and current working directory info is stored. The default is $HOME/.mcwd. 👑

⚠️ But listen — the information in that file is ignored if the file is more than 6 hours old. Six. Hours. So if your .mcwd is giving expired-milk energy, it gets skipped. 💀

mcd returns 0 on success or 1 on failure. Simple as that.

And here's the slay: unlike the MS-DOS versions of CD, mcd can actually be used to change to another device. Main character energy. ✨ It may be wise to remove old .mcwd files at logout, though — just saying. 🧚

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

  • Mtools' texinfo doc 👑 — go read the real thing, bestie.

📖 VIEWING THE TEXI DOC 📖

Okay so, this manpage has been automatically generated from mtools's texinfo documentation. But the process is only approximative, and some items — like crossreferences, footnotes and indices — are just lost in this translation process. 😭 And honestly? Those items have no appropriate representation in the manpage format anyway. On top of that, not all information has been translated into the manpage version at all. So I strongly advise you to use the original texinfo doc. The instructions on how to view the texinfo doc are at the end of this manpage. 🫶

  • To generate a printable copy from the texinfo doc, run the following commands:
./configure; make dvi; dvips mtools.dvi
  • To generate a html copy, run:
./configure; make html

A premade html can be found at http://www.gnu.org/software/mtools/manual/mtools.html 🌈

  • To generate an info copy (browsable using emacs' info mode), run:
./configure; make info

And a lil aesthetic note: the texinfo doc looks most pretty when printed or as html. Indeed, in the info version certain examples are difficult to read due to the quoting conventions used in info. 🙈 So if you want the pretty version, you know where to go. 🎀

Okay that's the whole page, bestie!! This was mcd from the mtools-4.0.49 manual, dated 14Jun25 — love that for us, go change some directories, you absolute icon. 💖✨🦋💅

📦 where this page comes from