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Faster File Navigation with autojump

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What is autojump?

autojump is a command line utility similar to cd. It helps speeds up file navigation by maintaining a history of directories that have been previously navigated by the user. If there are directories with the same name, autojump maintains a weighted history to favor the most frequently accessed directory.

Install autojump

This guide will cover installation on Linux and MacOS. Support for Windows is limited.

Debian/Ubuntu

  1. Install the autojump package:

    sudo apt install autojump

  2. On Debian-based distros, manual activation is required. Add the following line to ~/.bashrc(for Bash) or ~/.zshrc (if you use zsh):

    ~/.bashrc 
    1

    . /usr/share/autojump/autojump.sh

More information is available in the README:

cat /usr/share/doc/autojump/README.Debian

CentOS

yum install autojump

For shell specific installation, use autojump-zsh for zsh and autojump-fish for fish.

MacOS

The recommended installation method is to use Homebrew:

brew install autojump

Be sure to follow the instructions and add the line from installation into the corresponding configuration file. If using oh-my-zsh, add autojump as a plugin.

  
Add the following line to your ~/.bash_profile or ~/.zshrc file (and remember
to source the file to update your current session):
  [[ -s `brew --prefix`/etc/autojump.sh ]] && . `brew --prefix`/etc/autojump.sh

Install autojump via Python

  1. Ensure that git is installed, navigate to the directory where autojump should be installed, then clone the autojump repo:

    git clone git://github.com/joelthelion/autojump.git

  2. Run the install script:

    cd autojump/
./install.py
    Note
    autojump supports Python 2.6+, with the exception of 3.2.

How to Use autojump

Both autojump and j are equivalent for most purposes. j is preferred for convenience.

  1. Before jumping to any directory, check the weights of the installation:

    j -s

    Since no directories have been visited since installation, the total weight is 0.

      
________________________________________

0:       total weight
0:       number of entries
0.00:    current directory weight

data:    /Users/linode/Library/autojump/autojump.txt

  2. Create an example directory and child. Visit each directory then navigate back to home.

    mkdir -p foo/bar/
mkdir -p fuu/bar/
cd foo/
cd bar/
cd ~
cd fuu/
cd bar/
cd ~

  3. Run j -s again. The new weights should be reflected in the results:

      
10.0:   /Users/linode/foo
10.0:   /Users/linode/foo/bar
10.0:   /Users/linode/fuu/bar
10.0:   /Users/linode/fuu
________________________________________

40:      total weight
4:       number of entries
0.00:    current directory weight

data:    /Users/linode/Library/autojump/autojump.txt

A more comprehensive description of the arguments can be found with:

j --help

Jump to a Directory

Jump to a directory:

j bar

Jump to a Child Directory

Jumping to a child with c is supported:

jc foo

Jump with Multiple Arguments

Multiple arguments can be used with partial names of the full path.

j fu bar

Open Using File Manager

The o command opens the file manager and can also be used in conjunction with c.

jco fuu

Purge Deleted Directories from autojump

When a directory is deleted, its weights remain in autojump’s records. You should regularly purge these weights to prevent autojump from navigating to nonexistent directories.

  1. Navigate to the home directory and delete the foo/ directory:

    cd ~
rm -rf foo/

  2. Purge the deleted directory from autojump:

    j --purge

Common Issues

  • autojump can only be used to jump to directories that have been visited after installation. If you attempt to jump to a directory not yet visited, autojump will return .

    Visit the directory before attempting to jump.

  • When using oh-my-zsh, opening a new Z shell causes the following error:

      
/Users/linode/.rvm/scripts/initialize:48: __rvm_cleanse_variables: function definition file not found
/Users/linode/.rvm/scripts/initialize:50: command not found: rvm_error

    Make sure autojump is added as a plugin in .zshrc then remove all zcomp* files.

    rm ~/.zcomp*

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

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This guide is published under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.