The tilde expansion

• The tilde (~) may be used to refer your own home directory or other users home directory.

Syntax

Display your home directory file listing:

ls ~

Display a file called .bashrc stored in your home directory:

ls ~/.bashrc
cat ~/.bashrc

• If the tilde-prefix is a ~+, the value of the shell variable PWD replaces the tilde-prefix.

pwd
ls ~+

• If the tilde-prefix is a ~-, the value of the shell variable OLDPWD, if it is set, is substituted.

cd /etc
pwd
cd /bin
pwd
echo $OLDPWD
# display /etc/ directory listing and not /bin
ls ~-