How to move one directory back to unix / linux when the path contains symbolic links?

Question

I created a symlink to a deeply nested directory. Using a symbolic link, I can go to this directory from my home directory. I want to move a single directory from the destination directory, but the shell returns to the home directory.

[ root@pe1800xs ~]# pwd /root [ root@pe1800xs ~]# mkdir -p abc/def/ghi/jkl/mno/pqr [ root@pe1800xs ~]# ln -s abc/def/ghi/jkl/mno/pqr/ xyz [ root@pe1800xs ~]# cd xyz [ root@pe1800xs xyz]# pwd /root/xyz [ root@pe1800xs xyz]# pwd -P /root/abc/def/ghi/jkl/mno/pqr [ root@pe1800xs xyz]# cd .. [ root@pe1800xs ~]# pwd /root 

What I want to achieve is that when I do cd.. in the pqr directory, the shell should go to the mno directory.

Answer 1

You have to use

 cd -P xyz 

to enter this directory, to keep track of the original folder structure, then you can move as you want, because you have allowed the link to the real path.

Answer 2

You need to pass the -P option:

 cd -P ..