diff --git a/runtime/doc/eval.txt b/runtime/doc/eval.txt
index eb3dbd9b70..da39a56164 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/eval.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/eval.txt
@@ -5001,11 +5001,11 @@ getcurpos()	Get the position of the cursor.  This is like getpos('.'), but
 getcwd([{winnr}[, {tabnr}]])				*getcwd()*
 		With no arguments, returns the name of the effective
 		|current-directory|. With {winnr} or {tabnr} the working
-		directory of that scope is returned.
+		directory of that scope is returned, and 'autochdir' is
+		ignored.
 		Tabs and windows are identified by their respective numbers,
-		0 means current tab or window. Missing argument implies 0.
+		0 means current tab or window. Missing tab number implies 0.
 		Thus the following are equivalent: >
-			getcwd()
 			getcwd(0)
 			getcwd(0, 0)
 <		If {winnr} is -1 it is ignored, only the tab is resolved.
diff --git a/src/nvim/eval/funcs.c b/src/nvim/eval/funcs.c
index 7549ec7ac8..3cc5b49f8f 100644
--- a/src/nvim/eval/funcs.c
+++ b/src/nvim/eval/funcs.c
@@ -3485,11 +3485,6 @@ static void f_getcwd(typval_T *argvars, typval_T *rettv, FunPtr fptr)
     }
   }
 
-  // If the user didn't specify anything, default to window scope
-  if (scope == kCdScopeInvalid) {
-    scope = MIN_CD_SCOPE;
-  }
-
   // Find the tabpage by number
   if (scope_number[kCdScopeTabpage] > 0) {
     tp = find_tabpage(scope_number[kCdScopeTabpage]);
@@ -3535,12 +3530,13 @@ static void f_getcwd(typval_T *argvars, typval_T *rettv, FunPtr fptr)
   case kCdScopeGlobal:
     if (globaldir) {        // `globaldir` is not always set.
       from = globaldir;
-    } else if (os_dirname(cwd, MAXPATHL) == FAIL) {  // Get the OS CWD.
+      break;
+    }
+    FALLTHROUGH;            // In global directory, just need to get OS CWD.
+  case kCdScopeInvalid:     // If called without any arguments, get OS CWD.
+    if (os_dirname(cwd, MAXPATHL) == FAIL) {
       from = (char_u *)"";  // Return empty string on failure.
     }
-    break;
-  case kCdScopeInvalid:     // We should never get here
-    abort();
   }
 
   if (from) {
diff --git a/src/nvim/testdir/test_cd.vim b/src/nvim/testdir/test_cd.vim
index 0502791c88..57db0a2544 100644
--- a/src/nvim/testdir/test_cd.vim
+++ b/src/nvim/testdir/test_cd.vim
@@ -233,4 +233,24 @@ func Test_cd_unknown_dir()
   call delete('Xa', 'rf')
 endfunc
 
+func Test_getcwd_actual_dir()
+  CheckFunction test_autochdir
+  let startdir = getcwd()
+  call mkdir('Xactual')
+  call test_autochdir()
+  set autochdir
+  edit Xactual/file.txt
+  call assert_match('testdir.Xactual$', getcwd())
+  lcd ..
+  call assert_match('testdir$', getcwd())
+  edit
+  call assert_match('testdir.Xactual$', getcwd())
+  call assert_match('testdir$', getcwd(win_getid()))
+
+  set noautochdir
+  bwipe!
+  call chdir(startdir)
+  call delete('Xactual', 'rf')
+endfunc
+
 " vim: shiftwidth=2 sts=2 expandtab
diff --git a/test/functional/ex_cmds/cd_spec.lua b/test/functional/ex_cmds/cd_spec.lua
index 283fcf9672..f9cce0deb6 100644
--- a/test/functional/ex_cmds/cd_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/ex_cmds/cd_spec.lua
@@ -294,7 +294,16 @@ describe("getcwd()", function ()
     command('set autochdir')
     command('edit ' .. directories.global .. '/foo')
     eq(curdir .. pathsep .. directories.global, cwd())
+    eq(curdir, wcwd())
+    call('mkdir', 'bar')
+    command('edit ' .. 'bar/foo')
+    eq(curdir .. pathsep .. directories.global .. pathsep .. 'bar', cwd())
+    eq(curdir, wcwd())
+    command('lcd ..')
+    eq(curdir .. pathsep .. directories.global, cwd())
+    eq(curdir .. pathsep .. directories.global, wcwd())
+    command('edit')
+    eq(curdir .. pathsep .. directories.global .. pathsep .. 'bar', cwd())
+    eq(curdir .. pathsep .. directories.global, wcwd())
   end)
 end)
-
-