diff -r ee1376c15e2e Doc/library/os.rst
--- a/Doc/library/os.rst	Tue Mar 19 02:47:44 2013 -0400
+++ b/Doc/library/os.rst	Wed Mar 20 19:03:02 2013 -0700
@@ -159,6 +159,8 @@
 .. function:: chdir(path)
               fchdir(fd)
               getcwd()
+              getcwdb()
+              get_current_dir_name()
    :noindex:
 
    These functions are described in :ref:`os-file-dir`.
@@ -1441,6 +1443,17 @@
    Availability: Unix, Windows.
 
 
+.. function:: get_current_dir_name()
+
+    Return a string representing the current working directory taking into
+    consideration the users ``PWD`` environment variable if it exists. This is
+    opposed to :func:`getcwd()` which dereferences symlinks in the path. This
+    function is identical to :func:`getcwd()` on systems that do **not**
+    support the ``PWD`` environment variable.
+
+    Availability: Unix
+
+
 .. function:: lchflags(path, flags)
 
    Set the flags of *path* to the numeric *flags*, like :func:`chflags`, but do
diff -r ee1376c15e2e Lib/os.py
--- a/Lib/os.py	Tue Mar 19 02:47:44 2013 -0400
+++ b/Lib/os.py	Wed Mar 20 19:03:02 2013 -0700
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 __all__ = ["altsep", "curdir", "pardir", "sep", "pathsep", "linesep",
            "defpath", "name", "path", "devnull", "SEEK_SET", "SEEK_CUR",
            "SEEK_END", "fsencode", "fsdecode", "get_exec_path", "fdopen",
-           "popen", "extsep"]
+           "popen", "extsep", "get_current_dir_name"]
 
 def _exists(name):
     return name in globals()
@@ -630,6 +630,30 @@
     return path_list.split(pathsep)
 
 
+def get_current_dir_name():
+    """
+    Return a string representing the current working directory taking into
+    consideration the users *PWD* environment variable if it exists. This
+    is opposed to getcwd() which dereferences symlinks in the path. This
+    function is identical to getcwd() on systems that do *not* support
+    the *PWD* environment variable.
+    """
+    cwd = getcwd()
+
+    try:
+        pwd = environ["PWD"]
+    except KeyError:
+        return cwd
+
+    cwd_stat, pwd_stat = map(stat, [cwd, pwd])
+
+    if (cwd_stat.st_dev == pwd_stat.st_dev and
+            cwd_stat.st_ino == pwd_stat.st_ino):
+        return pwd
+    else:
+        return cwd
+
+
 # Change environ to automatically call putenv(), unsetenv if they exist.
 from collections.abc import MutableMapping
 
diff -r ee1376c15e2e Lib/test/test_os.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_os.py	Tue Mar 19 02:47:44 2013 -0400
+++ b/Lib/test/test_os.py	Wed Mar 20 19:03:02 2013 -0700
@@ -909,6 +909,48 @@
         os.removedirs(path)
 
 
+class CurrentDirTests(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.pwd = os.environ['PWD']
+        base = os.path.abspath(support.TESTFN)
+        self.tmp_dir = base + '_dir'
+        self.tmp_lnk = base + '_lnk'
+
+    def test_getcwd(self):
+        # os.getcwd() always returns the dereferenced path
+        with support.temp_cwd(self.tmp_dir):
+            os.chdir(self.tmp_dir)
+            self.assertEqual(self.tmp_dir, os.getcwd())
+            os.symlink(self.tmp_dir, self.tmp_lnk, True)
+            os.chdir(self.tmp_lnk)
+            self.assertEqual(self.tmp_dir, os.getcwd())
+            os.environ['PWD'] = self.tmp_dir
+            self.assertEqual(self.tmp_dir, os.getcwd())
+            os.environ['PWD'] = self.tmp_lnk
+            self.assertEqual(self.tmp_dir, os.getcwd())
+            os.unlink(self.tmp_lnk)
+
+    def test_get_current_dir_name(self):
+        # os.get_current_dir_name() returns the direct path--mirroring
+        # the PWD environment variable if it exists regardless of
+        # whether the path contains symlinks.
+        with support.temp_cwd(self.tmp_dir):
+            os.environ['PWD'] = self.tmp_dir
+            self.assertEqual(self.tmp_dir, os.get_current_dir_name())
+            os.symlink(self.tmp_dir, self.tmp_lnk, True)
+            if os.name == 'posix':
+                os.environ['PWD'] = self.tmp_lnk
+                self.assertEqual(self.tmp_lnk, os.get_current_dir_name())
+            else:
+                os.environ['PWD'] = self.tmp_lnk
+                self.assertEqual(self.tmp_dir, os.get_current_dir_name())
+            os.unlink(self.tmp_lnk)
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        os.environ['PWD'] = self.pwd
+
+
 class RemoveDirsTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         os.makedirs(support.TESTFN)
@@ -2213,6 +2255,7 @@
         WalkTests,
         FwalkTests,
         MakedirTests,
+        CurrentDirTests,
         DevNullTests,
         URandomTests,
         ExecTests,