Module System.Posix.Directory of the unix package defines getWorkingDirectory :: IO FilePath changeWorkingDirectory :: FilePath -> IO () I believe the functionality is quite portable and not limited to unix-like systems. I know that e.g. Windows has chdir and getcwd. Module Filesystem of the system-fileio package has getWorkingDirectory :: IO FilePath setWorkingDirectory :: FilePath -> IO () I propose to add these functions to System.Environmant or maybe System.Directory. Rationale: (1) This is standard functionality that should at least be in the Haskell Platform, if not in the standard libraries. (2) I would like to avoid depending on an extra package just to have these two very basic functions available in a OS independent way. (3) "system-fileio".Filesystem does not seem to be the right place for this. The last point may be arguable, but the first two are plain common sense IMO. Cheers Ben -- "Make it so they have to reboot after every typo." ? Scott Adams