How to store the full-path of a directory from a bash script?

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

I want to get the full-path director from a script, even if the user enters the './' or '/~'

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter the directory"
read DIRECTORY #how to store the full-path instead of something like ./
echo "$DIRECTORY"

edited 4 hours ago

asked 4 hours ago

Bionix1441

17111

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up vote
2
down vote

favorite

I want to get the full-path director from a script, even if the user enters the './' or '/~'

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter the directory"
read DIRECTORY #how to store the full-path instead of something like ./
echo "$DIRECTORY"

edited 4 hours ago

asked 4 hours ago

Bionix1441

17111

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

I want to get the full-path director from a script, even if the user enters the './' or '/~'

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter the directory"
read DIRECTORY #how to store the full-path instead of something like ./
echo "$DIRECTORY"

edited 4 hours ago

asked 4 hours ago

Bionix1441

17111

I want to get the full-path director from a script, even if the user enters the './' or '/~'

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter the directory"
read DIRECTORY #how to store the full-path instead of something like ./
echo "$DIRECTORY"

linux bash scripting

edited 4 hours ago

asked 4 hours ago

Bionix1441

17111

edited 4 hours ago

asked 4 hours ago

Bionix1441

17111

edited 4 hours ago

asked 4 hours ago

Bionix1441

17111

asked 4 hours ago

Bionix1441

17111

asked 4 hours ago

Bionix1441

17111

add a commentÂ |Â

5 Answers
5

active

oldest

votes

up vote
0
down vote

accepted

Use realpath:

echo "$(realpath $DIRECTORY)"

answered 4 hours ago

Ipor Sircer

9,5011920

1

This removes symbolic links, which is usually not desirable. Also you left out required double quotes and -- so your code doesn't work with file names containing whitespace, among others. See unix.stackexchange.com/questions/131766/â€¦
â€“Â Gilles
3 hours ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

For a directory, you can use the command pwd or the variable $PWD.

Example

$ DIRECTORY=.
$ TRUEDIR=$(cd -- "$DIRECTORY" && pwd)
$ echo $TRUEDIR
/home/steve
$

edited 2 hours ago

answered 4 hours ago

rusty shackleford

1,275116

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up vote
1
down vote

An absolute path begins with /, a relative one doesn't. You can turn a relative path into an absolute path by adding the path to the current directory and a slash before the relative path.

case $DIRECTORY in
 /*) DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY";;
esac

This is portable code: it works in plain sh, not just in bash.

The resulting path may contain symbolic links. This is almost always the right thing, but if you want to canonicalize symbolic links, see Converting relative path to absolute path without symbolic link

answered 3 hours ago

Gilles

514k12110191549

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up vote
0
down vote

You may add a test for an absolute path:

read DIRECTORY
[ "$DIRECTORY:0:1" = "/" ] || DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY"
echo "$DIRECTORY"

answered 4 hours ago

RudiC

1,91219

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up vote
0
down vote

realpath (the accepted answer) is deprecated and not available on most installs. I would use its replacement:

readlink -f "$DIRECTORY"

It too handles ~ and ./ and will follow symbolic links.

answered 24 mins ago

Glenn

New contributor

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5 Answers
5

active

oldest

votes

5 Answers
5

active

oldest

votes

up vote
0
down vote

accepted

Use realpath:

echo "$(realpath $DIRECTORY)"

answered 4 hours ago

Ipor Sircer

9,5011920

1

This removes symbolic links, which is usually not desirable. Also you left out required double quotes and -- so your code doesn't work with file names containing whitespace, among others. See unix.stackexchange.com/questions/131766/â€¦
â€“Â Gilles
3 hours ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
0
down vote

accepted

Use realpath:

echo "$(realpath $DIRECTORY)"

answered 4 hours ago

Ipor Sircer

9,5011920

1

This removes symbolic links, which is usually not desirable. Also you left out required double quotes and -- so your code doesn't work with file names containing whitespace, among others. See unix.stackexchange.com/questions/131766/â€¦
â€“Â Gilles
3 hours ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
0
down vote

accepted

Use realpath:

echo "$(realpath $DIRECTORY)"

answered 4 hours ago

Ipor Sircer

9,5011920

Use realpath:

echo "$(realpath $DIRECTORY)"

answered 4 hours ago

Ipor Sircer

9,5011920

answered 4 hours ago

Ipor Sircer

9,5011920

answered 4 hours ago

Ipor Sircer

9,5011920

answered 4 hours ago

Ipor Sircer

9,5011920

1

This removes symbolic links, which is usually not desirable. Also you left out required double quotes and -- so your code doesn't work with file names containing whitespace, among others. See unix.stackexchange.com/questions/131766/â€¦
â€“Â Gilles
3 hours ago

add a commentÂ |Â

1

This removes symbolic links, which is usually not desirable. Also you left out required double quotes and -- so your code doesn't work with file names containing whitespace, among others. See unix.stackexchange.com/questions/131766/â€¦
â€“Â Gilles
3 hours ago

This removes symbolic links, which is usually not desirable. Also you left out required double quotes and -- so your code doesn't work with file names containing whitespace, among others. See unix.stackexchange.com/questions/131766/â€¦
â€“Â Gilles
3 hours ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

For a directory, you can use the command pwd or the variable $PWD.

Example

$ DIRECTORY=.
$ TRUEDIR=$(cd -- "$DIRECTORY" && pwd)
$ echo $TRUEDIR
/home/steve
$

edited 2 hours ago

answered 4 hours ago

rusty shackleford

1,275116

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

For a directory, you can use the command pwd or the variable $PWD.

Example

$ DIRECTORY=.
$ TRUEDIR=$(cd -- "$DIRECTORY" && pwd)
$ echo $TRUEDIR
/home/steve
$

edited 2 hours ago

answered 4 hours ago

rusty shackleford

1,275116

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

For a directory, you can use the command pwd or the variable $PWD.

Example

$ DIRECTORY=.
$ TRUEDIR=$(cd -- "$DIRECTORY" && pwd)
$ echo $TRUEDIR
/home/steve
$

edited 2 hours ago

answered 4 hours ago

rusty shackleford

1,275116

For a directory, you can use the command pwd or the variable $PWD.

Example

$ DIRECTORY=.
$ TRUEDIR=$(cd -- "$DIRECTORY" && pwd)
$ echo $TRUEDIR
/home/steve
$

edited 2 hours ago

answered 4 hours ago

rusty shackleford

1,275116

edited 2 hours ago

answered 4 hours ago

rusty shackleford

1,275116

answered 4 hours ago

rusty shackleford

1,275116

answered 4 hours ago

rusty shackleford

1,275116

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

An absolute path begins with /, a relative one doesn't. You can turn a relative path into an absolute path by adding the path to the current directory and a slash before the relative path.

case $DIRECTORY in
 /*) DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY";;
esac

This is portable code: it works in plain sh, not just in bash.

answered 3 hours ago

Gilles

514k12110191549

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

An absolute path begins with /, a relative one doesn't. You can turn a relative path into an absolute path by adding the path to the current directory and a slash before the relative path.

case $DIRECTORY in
 /*) DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY";;
esac

This is portable code: it works in plain sh, not just in bash.

answered 3 hours ago

Gilles

514k12110191549

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

An absolute path begins with /, a relative one doesn't. You can turn a relative path into an absolute path by adding the path to the current directory and a slash before the relative path.

case $DIRECTORY in
 /*) DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY";;
esac

This is portable code: it works in plain sh, not just in bash.

answered 3 hours ago

Gilles

514k12110191549

An absolute path begins with /, a relative one doesn't. You can turn a relative path into an absolute path by adding the path to the current directory and a slash before the relative path.

case $DIRECTORY in
 /*) DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY";;
esac

This is portable code: it works in plain sh, not just in bash.

answered 3 hours ago

Gilles

514k12110191549

answered 3 hours ago

Gilles

514k12110191549

answered 3 hours ago

Gilles

514k12110191549

answered 3 hours ago

Gilles

514k12110191549

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
0
down vote

You may add a test for an absolute path:

read DIRECTORY
[ "$DIRECTORY:0:1" = "/" ] || DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY"
echo "$DIRECTORY"

answered 4 hours ago

RudiC

1,91219

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
0
down vote

You may add a test for an absolute path:

read DIRECTORY
[ "$DIRECTORY:0:1" = "/" ] || DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY"
echo "$DIRECTORY"

answered 4 hours ago

RudiC

1,91219

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
0
down vote

You may add a test for an absolute path:

read DIRECTORY
[ "$DIRECTORY:0:1" = "/" ] || DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY"
echo "$DIRECTORY"

answered 4 hours ago

RudiC

1,91219

You may add a test for an absolute path:

read DIRECTORY
[ "$DIRECTORY:0:1" = "/" ] || DIRECTORY="$PWD/$DIRECTORY"
echo "$DIRECTORY"

answered 4 hours ago

RudiC

1,91219

answered 4 hours ago

RudiC

1,91219

answered 4 hours ago

RudiC

1,91219

answered 4 hours ago

RudiC

1,91219

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
0
down vote

realpath (the accepted answer) is deprecated and not available on most installs. I would use its replacement:

readlink -f "$DIRECTORY"

It too handles ~ and ./ and will follow symbolic links.

answered 24 mins ago

Glenn

New contributor

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
0
down vote

realpath (the accepted answer) is deprecated and not available on most installs. I would use its replacement:

readlink -f "$DIRECTORY"

It too handles ~ and ./ and will follow symbolic links.

answered 24 mins ago

Glenn

New contributor

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
0
down vote

realpath (the accepted answer) is deprecated and not available on most installs. I would use its replacement:

readlink -f "$DIRECTORY"

It too handles ~ and ./ and will follow symbolic links.

answered 24 mins ago

Glenn

New contributor

realpath (the accepted answer) is deprecated and not available on most installs. I would use its replacement:

readlink -f "$DIRECTORY"

It too handles ~ and ./ and will follow symbolic links.

answered 24 mins ago

Glenn

New contributor

answered 24 mins ago

Glenn

New contributor

answered 24 mins ago

Glenn

answered 24 mins ago

Glenn

New contributor

Glenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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