Changing directories with a shell alias does not update default-directory. This affects subsequent commands such as dired, and shell behavior such as tab completion. Follow on relative path changes such as `$ cd ..' have the expected effect in the shell, and move default-directory relative to the working directory before using a cd alias. Subsequent non-aliased cd commands do not affect default-directory unless the working directory of the shell matches default-directory. $ emacs -q `M-x shell RET' ~$ pwd /home/user `C-h v default-directory RET' => default-directory is a variable defined in `C source code'. Its value is "/home/user/" ~$ mkdir foobar ~$ cd foobar ~/foobar$ `C-h v default-directory RET' => ... Its value is "/home/user/foobar/" ~/foobar$ alias fb='cd foobar' ~/foobar$ cd .. ~$ fb ~/foobar$ `C-h v default-directory RET' => ...Its value is "/home/user/" ~/foobar$ cd .. ~$ `C-h v default-directory RET' => ...Its value is "/home/" ~$ cd foobar ~/foobar$ `C-h v default-directory RET' => ...Its value is "/home/" ~/foobar$ cd /home /home$ cd user/foobar ~/foobar$ `C-h v default-directory RET' => ...Its value is "/home/user/foobar/" If Emacs crashed, and you have the Emacs process in the gdb debugger, please include the output from the following gdb commands: `bt full' and `xbacktrace'. For information about debugging Emacs, please read the file /usr/share/emacs/24.3/etc/DEBUG. In GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.4.2) of 2014-02-22 on king, modified by Debian Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.11303000 System Description: Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS Configured using: `configure '--build' 'x86_64-linux-gnu' '--build' 'x86_64-linux-gnu' '--prefix=/usr' '--sharedstatedir=/var/lib' '--libexecdir=/usr/lib' '--localstatedir=/var/lib' '--infodir=/usr/share/info' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--with-pop=yes' '--enable-locallisppath=/etc/emacs24:/etc/emacs:/usr/local/share/emacs/24.3/site-lisp:/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/24.3/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp' '--with-crt-dir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu' '--with-x=yes' '--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' '--with-toolkit-scroll-bars' 'build_alias=x86_64-linux-gnu' 'CFLAGS=-g -O2 -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -Wformat -Wformat-security -Werror=format-security -Wall' 'LDFLAGS=-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro' 'CPPFLAGS=-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2'' Important settings: value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8 locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix default enable-multibyte-characters: t Major mode: Shell Minor modes in effect: shell-dirtrack-mode: t tooltip-mode: t mouse-wheel-mode: t tool-bar-mode: t menu-bar-mode: t file-name-shadow-mode: t global-font-lock-mode: t font-lock-mode: t blink-cursor-mode: t auto-composition-mode: t auto-encryption-mode: t auto-compression-mode: t line-number-mode: t transient-mark-mode: t Recent input: