Is it possible to override the command line's built in "cd" command?

Solution 1:

The following should work:

function cd() { builtin cd "$@" && ls -l; }

Since the function is on a single line, ensure that it is terminated with ; as above in order to work correctly.

I think you're running into a loop. Your cd function is calling cd, which is... the function.

You need to know about builtin which is a keyword which makes command lookup use the the Bash builtins like cd and not your function

function cd
{
    builtin cd "$1"
    : do something else
}

Also, calling /usr/bin/cd will never work, even if such a command existed.

What would happen:

My Bash shell is in dir /bash/dir.
I run a command /usr/bin/cd /dir/for/cd.
/usr/bin/cd goes to dir /dir/for/cd.
/usr/bin/cd exits.
Bash is still in /bash/dir, because the child process /usr/bin/cd can not affect the parent.

Also aliases are simple text substitutions. They can never have parameters.