Does anyone know, how this compares to [autojump](https://github.com/wting/autojump)?
Could not imagine using regular cd for navigating file systems anymore.
In Zoxide: A Better CD Commandwting
autojump
Python2009–2025
wting / autojump
autojump
A cd command that learns - easily navigate directories from the command line
75Distinct people
82Mentions
3Explicit recommenders
17KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
A cd command that learns - easily navigate directories from the command line
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
I've been using a tool called autojump that does a similar thing and I love it.. https://github.com/joelthelion/autojump Tools like Z and autojump are fantastic timesavers.
bhudman used a recommendation phrase. 3 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- clvv/fasd · linked in 3 of the same discussions
- junegunn/fzf · linked in 3 of the same discussions
- rupa/z · linked in 3 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year82 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2009-02-14 08:21:51 UTC to 2025-09-23 06:56:20 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 2009-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2010-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2010 | 2010-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2011 | 2011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 4 | 5 |
| 2012 | 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 7 | 1 | 6 |
| 2013 | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 8 | 1 | 7 |
| 2014 | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 12, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
NAME
autojump - a faster way to navigate your filesystem
DESCRIPTION
autojump is a faster way to navigate your filesystem. It works by
maintaining a database of the directories you use the most from the
command line.
Directories must be visited first before they can be jumped to.
USAGE
j is a convenience wrapper function around autojump. Any option that
can be used with autojump can be used with j and vice versa.
Jump To A Directory That Contains foo:
j foo
Jump To A Directory That Contains foo, Preferring Child Directories:
You can prioritize child directories over matches in the databases via
jc foo
Open File Manager To Directories (instead of jumping):
Instead of jumping to a directory, you can open a file explorer
window (Mac Finder, Windows Explorer, GNOME Nautilus, etc.) to the
directory instead.
jo music
Opening a file manager to a child directory is also supported:
jco images
Using Multiple Arguments:
Let's assume the following database:
30 /home/user/mail/inbox
10 /home/user/work/inbox
j in would jump into /home/user/mail/inbox as the higher
weighted entry. However you can pass multiple arguments to autojump
to prefer a different entry. In the above example, j w in would
then change directory to /home/user/work/inbox.
For more options refer to help:
autojump --help
INSTALLATION
REQUIREMENTS
Python v2.6+ or Python v3.3+
Supported shells
bash - first class support
zsh - first class support
fish - community supported
tcsh - community supported
clink - community supported
Supported platforms
Linux - first class support
OS X - first class support
Windows - community supported
BSD - community supported
Supported installation methods
source code - first class support
Debian and derivatives - first class support
ArchLinux / Gentoo / openSUSE / RedHat and derivatives -
community supported
Homebrew / MacPorts - community supported
Due to limited time and resources, only "first class support" items will
be maintained by the primary committers. All "community supported" items
will be updated based on pull requests submitted by the general public.
Please continue opening issues and providing feedback for community
supported items since consolidating information helps other users
troubleshoot and submit enhancements and fixes.
MANUAL
Grab a copy of autojump:
git clone https://github.com/wting/autojump.git
Run the installation script and follow on screen instructions.
cd autojump
./install.py or ./uninstall.py
AUTOMATIC
Linux
autojump is included in the following distro repositories, please use
relevant package management utilities to install (e.g. apt-get, yum,
pacman, etc):
Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint
All Debian-derived distros require manual activation for policy
reasons, please see /usr/share/doc/autojump/README.Debian.
RedHat, Fedora, CentOS
Install autojump-zsh for zsh, autojump-fish for fish, etc.
ArchLinux
Gentoo
Frugalware
Slackware
OS X
Homebrew is the recommended installation method for Mac OS X:
brew install autojump
MacPorts is also available:
port install autojump
Windows
Windows support is enabled by clink
which should be installed prior to installing autojump.
KNOWN ISSUES
autojump does not support directories that begin with -.
For bash users, autojump keeps track of directories by modifying
$PROMPT_COMMAND. Do not overwrite $PROMPT_COMMAND:
export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a"
Instead append to the end of the existing $PROMPT_COMMAND:
export PROMPT_COMMAND="${PROMPT_COMMAND:+$PROMPT_COMMAND ;} history -a"
REPORTING BUGS
For any questions or issues please visit:
https://github.com/wting/autojump/issues
AUTHORS
autojump was originally written by Joël Schaerer, and currently
maintained by William Ting. More contributors can be found in AUTHORS.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL
version 3 or later http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html. This is free
software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO
WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
82 sourcesI never used pushd and popd. Did not even know about them. But I use autojump it give directories a prioroty numbers and then you just have to type "j pro" and you cd into your projects folder for example.
https://github.com/wting/autojump
just looked at it again it also has a jc command for child directories and commands to open file explorer that I never used.
In Shunpo: Minimalist bash tool to make directory navigation a little bit fasterAutojump: A CD command that learns
1 points · Open discussionI also use zsh for years and did not know that. What I like this: Actually having completions shown in the screen and being able to navigate them with tabs. I think that is not a default behavior, but that is what oh-my-zsh does for you in its default setup. Does someone have more insight on that?
I did not know about this, but I use https://github.com/wting/autojump, so I am not super sad that I missed something that hold me back severely. But good to know.
In ZshellYes, I made a similar keybinding for xonsh, using fd and fzf. I press Alt-c, and fzf shows me all the subdirectories rooted where I'm at.
That's a good intermediary solution. But the one that totally changed my flow was to combine autojump[1] and fzf. autojump is similar to Z (this submission). It stores all the directories you've visited in an SQLite DB and can show them to you (ordered by visit frequency) with a command line argument. So I pipe that to fzf.
Now I can extremely quickly jump to any directory I've been to before - it really helps that they're sorted by visit frequency. I honestly use this more than any other approach - and I probably go for days on end without using the usual TAB autocompletion.
[1] https://github.com/wting/autojump
In Z – Jump aroundAnyone who have used both z and autojump? What is the difference?
https://github.com/wting/autojump
In Z – Jump aroundNot quite the same but you should check out autojump if you haven’t before: https://github.com/wting/autojump
In Some Useful Bash Aliases (2022)I’ve been using autojump for years to the point of forgetting it’s not out-of-the-box behavior for zsh.
https://github.com/wting/autojump
In Cdpath: Easily Navigate Directories in the TerminalI didn't have to do any manual setup, I used it on ~three machines so far. Maybe something is odd with your shell? Which one do you use?
I have seen other people suggesting https://github.com/wting/autojump too, so it might be worth giving that tool a look, it seems supported a bit better and more actively developed.
In So you've installed `fzf` – now what?Other uses for fzf:
- Combine it with autojump[1] and quickly navigate to any directory you've navigated to before (sorted by frequency). This is crazy helpful.
- Use it for git branch names
- Use it for ssh locations
[1] https://github.com/wting/autojump
In So you've installed `fzf` – now what?There's a clash of names between this jc and autojump (https://github.com/wting/autojump) jc (jump to child)
In JC – JSONifies the output of many CLI toolsI've used autojump for years.
https://github.com/wting/autojump
It allows you to quickly navigate your filesystem via the shell by learning the directories you commonly visit/have visited.
In Software devs, how have you sped up your workflow?I use `autojump` (aliased as `j`), which sounds quite similar as it also records your most frequently visited directories. It's as simple as entering `j down` to enter /some/path/to/MyDownloadFolder.
For exploring massive file trees, a terminal file manager that allows you to preview the contents of subdirectories without entering them is huge time saver. I use `lf`.
https://github.com/wting/autojump
https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
In How to navigate directories faster with Bash (2015)It's a shell command that allows you to `cd` to places without having to type the whole path. Some implementations are https://github.com/wting/autojump and https://github.com/rupa/z.
A very simplified example: if you call `j pro`, the command should take you to the folder that best matches the name based on some criteria (in my case, one of them would be frecency). In my case, that would be my projects folder in another drive.
The nifty thing about them is that you don't have to make those aliases manually -- the tool learns the directories you've visited over time.
Of course, the tool could take you to the wrong path, but with a well made set of matching/prioritization rules, I've found it more useful than not.
In What's New in SQLite 3.35This sounds just like autojump (typically run using `j`) to me: https://github.com/wting/autojump
Agree that it's an invaluable piece of software!
In Behold z, the unsung jewel that rethinks shell navigationShowing the 15 most recent of 82 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.