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How do I get the path of the directory in which a Bash script is located, inside that script?
I want to use a Bash script as a launcher for another application. I want to change the working directory to the one where the Bash script is located, so I can operate on the files in that directory, like so:
$ ./application
#!/usr/bin/env bash
SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )
is a useful one-liner which will give you the full directory name of the script no matter where it is being called from.
It will work as long as the last component of the path used to find the script is not a symlink (directory links are OK). If you also want to resolve any links to the script itself, you need a multi-line solution:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
SOURCE=${BASH_SOURCE[0]}
while [ -L "$SOURCE" ]; do # resolve $SOURCE until the file is no longer a symlink
DIR=$( cd -P "$( dirname "$SOURCE" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )
SOURCE=$(readlink "$SOURCE")
[[ $SOURCE != /* ]] && SOURCE=$DIR/$SOURCE # if $SOURCE was a relative symlink, we need to resolve it relative to the path where the symlink file was located
done
DIR=$( cd -P "$( dirname "$SOURCE" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )
This last one will work with any combination of aliases, source, bash -c, symlinks, etc.
Beware: if you cd to a different directory before running this snippet, the result may be incorrect!
Also, watch out for $CDPATH gotchas, and stderr output side effects if the user has smartly overridden cd to redirect output to stderr instead (including escape sequences, such as when calling update_terminal_cwd >&2 on Mac). Adding >/dev/null 2>&1 at the end of your cd command will take care of both possibilities.
To understand how it works, try running this more verbose form:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
SOURCE=${BASH_SOURCE[0]}
while [ -L "$SOURCE" ]; do # resolve $SOURCE until the file is no longer a symlink
TARGET=$(readlink "$SOURCE")
if [[ $TARGET == /* ]]; then
echo "SOURCE '$SOURCE' is an absolute symlink to '$TARGET'"
SOURCE=$TARGET
else
DIR=$( dirname "$SOURCE" )
echo "SOURCE '$SOURCE' is a relative symlink to '$TARGET' (relative to '$DIR')"
SOURCE=$DIR/$TARGET # if $SOURCE was a relative symlink, we need to resolve it relative to the path where the symlink file was located
fi
done
echo "SOURCE is '$SOURCE'"
RDIR=$( dirname "$SOURCE" )
DIR=$( cd -P "$( dirname "$SOURCE" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )
if [ "$DIR" != "$RDIR" ]; then
echo "DIR '$RDIR' resolves to '$DIR'"
fi
echo "DIR is '$DIR'"
And it will print something like:
SOURCE './scriptdir.sh' is a relative symlink to 'sym2/scriptdir.sh' (relative to '.')
SOURCE is './sym2/scriptdir.sh'
DIR './sym2' resolves to '/home/ubuntu/dotfiles/fo fo/real/real1/real2'
DIR is '/home/ubuntu/dotfiles/fo fo/real/real1/real2'
Use dirname "$0":
#!/usr/bin/env bash
echo "The script you are running has basename $( basename -- "$0"; ), dirname $( dirname -- "$0"; )";
echo "The present working directory is $( pwd; )";
Using pwd alone will not work if you are not running the script from the directory it is contained in.
[matt#server1 ~]$ pwd
/home/matt
[matt#server1 ~]$ ./test2.sh
The script you are running has basename test2.sh, dirname .
The present working directory is /home/matt
[matt#server1 ~]$ cd /tmp
[matt#server1 tmp]$ ~/test2.sh
The script you are running has basename test2.sh, dirname /home/matt
The present working directory is /tmp
The dirname command is the most basic, simply parsing the path up to the filename off of the $0 (script name) variable:
dirname -- "$0";
But, as matt b pointed out, the path returned is different depending on how the script is called. pwd doesn't do the job because that only tells you what the current directory is, not what directory the script resides in. Additionally, if a symbolic link to a script is executed, you're going to get a (probably relative) path to where the link resides, not the actual script.
Some others have mentioned the readlink command, but at its simplest, you can use:
dirname -- "$( readlink -f -- "$0"; )";
readlink will resolve the script path to an absolute path from the root of the filesystem. So, any paths containing single or double dots, tildes and/or symbolic links will be resolved to a full path.
Here's a script demonstrating each of these, whatdir.sh:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
echo "pwd: `pwd`"
echo "\$0: $0"
echo "basename: `basename -- "$0"`"
echo "dirname: `dirname -- "$0"`"
echo "dirname/readlink: $( dirname -- "$( readlink -f -- "$0"; )"; )"
Running this script in my home dir, using a relative path:
>>>$ ./whatdir.sh
pwd: /Users/phatblat
$0: ./whatdir.sh
basename: whatdir.sh
dirname: .
dirname/readlink: /Users/phatblat
Again, but using the full path to the script:
>>>$ /Users/phatblat/whatdir.sh
pwd: /Users/phatblat
$0: /Users/phatblat/whatdir.sh
basename: whatdir.sh
dirname: /Users/phatblat
dirname/readlink: /Users/phatblat
Now changing directories:
>>>$ cd /tmp
>>>$ ~/whatdir.sh
pwd: /tmp
$0: /Users/phatblat/whatdir.sh
basename: whatdir.sh
dirname: /Users/phatblat
dirname/readlink: /Users/phatblat
And finally using a symbolic link to execute the script:
>>>$ ln -s ~/whatdir.sh whatdirlink.sh
>>>$ ./whatdirlink.sh
pwd: /tmp
$0: ./whatdirlink.sh
basename: whatdirlink.sh
dirname: .
dirname/readlink: /Users/phatblat
There is however one case where this doesn't work, when the script is sourced (instead of executed) in bash:
>>>$ cd /tmp
>>>$ . ~/whatdir.sh
pwd: /tmp
$0: bash
basename: bash
dirname: .
dirname/readlink: /tmp
pushd . > '/dev/null';
SCRIPT_PATH="${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-$0}";
while [ -h "$SCRIPT_PATH" ];
do
cd "$( dirname -- "$SCRIPT_PATH"; )";
SCRIPT_PATH="$( readlink -f -- "$SCRIPT_PATH"; )";
done
cd "$( dirname -- "$SCRIPT_PATH"; )" > '/dev/null';
SCRIPT_PATH="$( pwd; )";
popd > '/dev/null';
It works for all versions, including
when called via multiple depth soft link,
when the file it
when script called by command "source" aka . (dot) operator.
when arg $0 is modified from caller.
"./script"
"/full/path/to/script"
"/some/path/../../another/path/script"
"./some/folder/script"
Alternatively, if the Bash script itself is a relative symlink you want to follow it and return the full path of the linked-to script:
pushd . > '/dev/null';
SCRIPT_PATH="${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-$0}";
while [ -h "$SCRIPT_PATH" ];
do
cd "$( dirname -- "$SCRIPT_PATH"; )";
SCRIPT_PATH="$( readlink -f -- "$SCRIPT_PATH"; )";
done
cd "$( dirname -- "$SCRIPT_PATH"; )" > '/dev/null';
SCRIPT_PATH="$( pwd; )";
popd > '/dev/null';
SCRIPT_PATH is given in full path, no matter how it is called.
Just make sure you locate this at start of the script.
You can use $BASH_SOURCE:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
scriptdir="$( dirname -- "$BASH_SOURCE"; )";
Note that you need to use #!/bin/bash and not #!/bin/sh since it's a Bash extension.
Here is an easy-to-remember script:
DIR="$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}"; )"; # Get the directory name
DIR="$( realpath -e -- "$DIR"; )"; # Resolve its full path if need be
Short answer:
"`dirname -- "$0";`"
or (preferably):
"$( dirname -- "$0"; )"
This should do it:
DIR="$(dirname "$(realpath "$0")")"
This works with symlinks and spaces in path.
Please see the man pages for dirname and realpath.
Please add a comment on how to support MacOS. I'm sorry I can verify it.
pwd can be used to find the current working directory, and dirname to find the directory of a particular file (command that was run, is $0, so dirname $0 should give you the directory of the current script).
However, dirname gives precisely the directory portion of the filename, which more likely than not is going to be relative to the current working directory. If your script needs to change directory for some reason, then the output from dirname becomes meaningless.
I suggest the following:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
reldir="$( dirname -- "$0"; )";
cd "$reldir";
directory="$( pwd; )";
echo "Directory is ${directory}";
This way, you get an absolute, rather than a relative directory.
Since the script will be run in a separate Bash instance, there isn't any need to restore the working directory afterwards, but if you do want to change back in your script for some reason, you can easily assign the value of pwd to a variable before you change directory, for future use.
Although just
cd "$( dirname -- "$0"; )";
solves the specific scenario in the question, I find having the absolute path to more more useful generally.
SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd ${0%/*} && pwd -P )
I don't think this is as easy as others have made it out to be. pwd doesn't work, as the current directory is not necessarily the directory with the script. $0 doesn't always have the information either. Consider the following three ways to invoke a script:
./script
/usr/bin/script
script
In the first and third ways $0 doesn't have the full path information. In the second and third, pwd does not work. The only way to get the directory in the third way would be to run through the path and find the file with the correct match. Basically the code would have to redo what the OS does.
One way to do what you are asking would be to just hardcode the data in the /usr/share directory, and reference it by its full path. Data shoudn't be in the /usr/bin directory anyway, so this is probably the thing to do.
This gets the current working directory on Mac OS X v10.6.6 (Snow Leopard):
DIR=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")"; pwd)
$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$BASH_SOURCE")")
This is Linux specific, but you could use:
SELF=$(readlink /proc/$$/fd/255)
Here is a POSIX compliant one-liner:
SCRIPT_PATH=`dirname "$0"`; SCRIPT_PATH=`eval "cd \"$SCRIPT_PATH\" && pwd"`
# test
echo $SCRIPT_PATH
The shortest and most elegant way to do this is:
#!/bin/bash
DIRECTORY=$(cd `dirname $0` && pwd)
echo $DIRECTORY
This would work on all platforms and is super clean.
More details can be found in "Which directory is that bash script in?".
Summary:
FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT="$(realpath "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}")"
# OR, if you do NOT need it to work for **sourced** scripts too:
# FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT="$(realpath "$0")"
# OR, depending on which path you want, in case of nested `source` calls
# FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT="$(realpath "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
# OR, add `-s` to NOT expand symlinks in the path:
# FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT="$(realpath -s "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}")"
SCRIPT_DIRECTORY="$(dirname "$FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT")"
SCRIPT_FILENAME="$(basename "$FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT")"
Details:
How to obtain the full file path, full directory, and base filename of any script being run OR sourced...
...even when the called script is called from within another bash function or script, or when nested sourcing is being used!
For many cases, all you need to acquire is the full path to the script you just called. This can be easily accomplished using realpath. Note that realpath is part of GNU coreutils. If you don't have it already installed (it comes default on Ubuntu), you can install it with sudo apt update && sudo apt install coreutils.
get_script_path.sh (for the latest version of this script, see get_script_path.sh in my eRCaGuy_hello_world repo):
#!/bin/bash
# A. Obtain the full path, and expand (walk down) symbolic links
# A.1. `"$0"` works only if the file is **run**, but NOT if it is **sourced**.
# FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT="$(realpath "$0")"
# A.2. `"${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}"` works whether the file is sourced OR run, and even
# if the script is called from within another bash function!
# NB: if `"${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}"` doesn't give you quite what you want, use
# `"${BASH_SOURCE[0]}"` instead in order to get the first element from the array.
FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT="$(realpath "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}")"
# B.1. `"$0"` works only if the file is **run**, but NOT if it is **sourced**.
# FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT_KEEP_SYMLINKS="$(realpath -s "$0")"
# B.2. `"${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}"` works whether the file is sourced OR run, and even
# if the script is called from within another bash function!
# NB: if `"${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}"` doesn't give you quite what you want, use
# `"${BASH_SOURCE[0]}"` instead in order to get the first element from the array.
FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT_KEEP_SYMLINKS="$(realpath -s "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}")"
# You can then also get the full path to the directory, and the base
# filename, like this:
SCRIPT_DIRECTORY="$(dirname "$FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT")"
SCRIPT_FILENAME="$(basename "$FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT")"
# Now print it all out
echo "FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT = \"$FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT\""
echo "SCRIPT_DIRECTORY = \"$SCRIPT_DIRECTORY\""
echo "SCRIPT_FILENAME = \"$SCRIPT_FILENAME\""
IMPORTANT note on nested source calls: if "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}" above doesn't give you quite what you want, try using "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" instead. The first (0) index gives you the first entry in the array, and the last (-1) index gives you the last last entry in the array. Depending on what it is you're after, you may actually want the first entry. I discovered this to be the case when I sourced ~/.bashrc with . ~/.bashrc, which sourced ~/.bash_aliases with . ~/.bash_aliases, and I wanted the realpath (with expanded symlinks) to the ~/.bash_aliases file, NOT to the ~/.bashrc file. Since these are nested source calls, using "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" gave me what I wanted: the expanded path to ~/.bash_aliases! Using "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}", however, gave me what I did not want: the expanded path to ~/.bashrc.
Example command and output:
Running the script:
~/GS/dev/eRCaGuy_hello_world/bash$ ./get_script_path.sh
FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT = "/home/gabriel/GS/dev/eRCaGuy_hello_world/bash/get_script_path.sh"
SCRIPT_DIRECTORY = "/home/gabriel/GS/dev/eRCaGuy_hello_world/bash"
SCRIPT_FILENAME = "get_script_path.sh"
Sourcing the script with . get_script_path.sh or source get_script_path.sh (the result is the exact same as above because I used "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}" in the script instead of "$0"):
~/GS/dev/eRCaGuy_hello_world/bash$ . get_script_path.sh
FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT = "/home/gabriel/GS/dev/eRCaGuy_hello_world/bash/get_script_path.sh"
SCRIPT_DIRECTORY = "/home/gabriel/GS/dev/eRCaGuy_hello_world/bash"
SCRIPT_FILENAME = "get_script_path.sh"
If you use "$0" in the script instead of "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}", you'll get the same output as above when running the script, but this undesired output instead when sourcing the script:
~/GS/dev/eRCaGuy_hello_world/bash$ . get_script_path.sh
FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT = "/bin/bash"
SCRIPT_DIRECTORY = "/bin"
SCRIPT_FILENAME = "bash"
And, apparently if you use "$BASH_SOURCE" instead of "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}", it will not work if the script is called from within another bash function. So, using "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}" is therefore the best way to do it, as it solves both of these problems! See the references below.
Difference between realpath and realpath -s:
Note that realpath also successfully walks down symbolic links to determine and point to their targets rather than pointing to the symbolic link. If you do NOT want this behavior (sometimes I don't), then add -s to the realpath command above, making that line look like this instead:
# Obtain the full path, but do NOT expand (walk down) symbolic links; in
# other words: **keep** the symlinks as part of the path!
FULL_PATH_TO_SCRIPT="$(realpath -s "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}")"
This way, symbolic links are NOT expanded. Rather, they are left as-is, as symbolic links in the full path.
The code above is now part of my eRCaGuy_hello_world repo in this file here: bash/get_script_path.sh. Reference and run this file for full examples both with and withOUT symlinks in the paths. See the bottom of the file for example output in both cases.
References:
How to retrieve absolute path given relative
taught me about the BASH_SOURCE variable: Unix & Linux: determining path to sourced shell script
taught me that BASH_SOURCE is actually an array, and we want the last element from it for it to work as expected inside a function (hence why I used "${BASH_SOURCE[-1]}" in my code here): Unix & Linux: determining path to sourced shell script
man bash --> search for BASH_SOURCE:
BASH_SOURCE
An array variable whose members are the source filenames where the corresponding shell function names in the FUNCNAME array variable are defined. The shell function ${FUNCNAME[$i]} is defined in the file ${BASH_SOURCE[$i]} and called from ${BASH_SOURCE[$i+1]}.
See also:
[my answer] Unix & Linux: determining path to sourced shell script
#!/bin/sh
PRG="$0"
# need this for relative symlinks
while [ -h "$PRG" ] ; do
PRG=`readlink "$PRG"`
done
scriptdir=`dirname "$PRG"`
Here is the simple, correct way:
actual_path=$(readlink -f "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")
script_dir=$(dirname "$actual_path")
Explanation:
${BASH_SOURCE[0]} - the full path to the script. The value of this will be correct even when the script is being sourced, e.g. source <(echo 'echo $0') prints bash, while replacing it with ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} will print the full path of the script. (Of course, this assumes you're OK taking a dependency on Bash.)
readlink -f - Recursively resolves any symlinks in the specified path. This is a GNU extension, and not available on (for example) BSD systems. If you're running a Mac, you can use Homebrew to install GNU coreutils and supplant this with greadlink -f.
And of course dirname gets the parent directory of the path.
I tried all of these and none worked. One was very close, but it had a tiny bug that broke it badly; they forgot to wrap the path in quotation marks.
Also a lot of people assume you're running the script from a shell, so they forget when you open a new script it defaults to your home.
Try this directory on for size:
/var/No one/Thought/About Spaces Being/In a Directory/Name/And Here's your file.text
This gets it right regardless how or where you run it:
#!/bin/bash
echo "pwd: `pwd`"
echo "\$0: $0"
echo "basename: `basename "$0"`"
echo "dirname: `dirname "$0"`"
So to make it actually useful, here's how to change to the directory of the running script:
cd "`dirname "$0"`"
This is a slight revision to the solution e-satis and 3bcdnlklvc04a pointed out in their answer:
SCRIPT_DIR=''
pushd "$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$BASH_SOURCE")")" > /dev/null && {
SCRIPT_DIR="$PWD"
popd > /dev/null
}
This should still work in all the cases they listed.
This will prevent popd after a failed pushd. Thanks to konsolebox.
Try using:
real=$(realpath "$(dirname "$0")")
I would use something like this:
# Retrieve the full pathname of the called script
scriptPath=$(which $0)
# Check whether the path is a link or not
if [ -L $scriptPath ]; then
# It is a link then retrieve the target path and get the directory name
sourceDir=$(dirname $(readlink -f $scriptPath))
else
# Otherwise just get the directory name of the script path
sourceDir=$(dirname $scriptPath)
fi
For systems having GNU coreutils readlink (for example, Linux):
$(readlink -f "$(dirname "$0")")
There's no need to use BASH_SOURCE when $0 contains the script filename.
$_ is worth mentioning as an alternative to $0. If you're running a script from Bash, the accepted answer can be shortened to:
DIR="$( dirname "$_" )"
Note that this has to be the first statement in your script.
These are short ways to get script information:
Folders and files:
Script: "/tmp/src dir/test.sh"
Calling folder: "/tmp/src dir/other"
Using these commands:
echo Script-Dir : `dirname "$(realpath $0)"`
echo Script-Dir : $( cd ${0%/*} && pwd -P )
echo Script-Dir : $(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")
echo
echo Script-Name : `basename "$(realpath $0)"`
echo Script-Name : `basename $0`
echo
echo Script-Dir-Relative : `dirname "$BASH_SOURCE"`
echo Script-Dir-Relative : `dirname $0`
echo
echo Calling-Dir : `pwd`
And I got this output:
Script-Dir : /tmp/src dir
Script-Dir : /tmp/src dir
Script-Dir : /tmp/src dir
Script-Name : test.sh
Script-Name : test.sh
Script-Dir-Relative : ..
Script-Dir-Relative : ..
Calling-Dir : /tmp/src dir/other
Also see: https://pastebin.com/J8KjxrPF
This works in Bash 3.2:
path="$( dirname "$( which "$0" )" )"
If you have a ~/bin directory in your $PATH, you have A inside this directory. It sources the script ~/bin/lib/B. You know where the included script is relative to the original one, in the lib subdirectory, but not where it is relative to the user's current directory.
This is solved by the following (inside A):
source "$( dirname "$( which "$0" )" )/lib/B"
It doesn't matter where the user is or how he/she calls the script. This will always work.
I've compared many of the answers given, and came up with some more compact solutions. These seem to handle all of the crazy edge cases that arise from your favorite combination of:
Absolute paths or relative paths
File and directory soft links
Invocation as script, bash script, bash -c script, source script, or . script
Spaces, tabs, newlines, Unicode, etc. in directories and/or filename
Filenames beginning with a hyphen
If you're running from Linux, it seems that using the proc handle is the best solution to locate the fully resolved source of the currently running script (in an interactive session, the link points to the respective /dev/pts/X):
resolved="$(readlink /proc/$$/fd/255 && echo X)" && resolved="${resolved%$'\nX'}"
This has a small bit of ugliness to it, but the fix is compact and easy to understand. We aren't using bash primitives only, but I'm okay with that because readlink simplifies the task considerably. The echo X adds an X to the end of the variable string so that any trailing whitespace in the filename doesn't get eaten, and the parameter substitution ${VAR%X} at the end of the line gets rid of the X. Because readlink adds a newline of its own (which would normally be eaten in the command substitution if not for our previous trickery), we have to get rid of that, too. This is most easily accomplished using the $'' quoting scheme, which lets us use escape sequences such as \n to represent newlines (this is also how you can easily make deviously named directories and files).
The above should cover your needs for locating the currently running script on Linux, but if you don't have the proc filesystem at your disposal, or if you're trying to locate the fully resolved path of some other file, then maybe you'll find the below code helpful. It's only a slight modification from the above one-liner. If you're playing around with strange directory/filenames, checking the output with both ls and readlink is informative, as ls will output "simplified" paths, substituting ? for things like newlines.
absolute_path=$(readlink -e -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" && echo x) && absolute_path=${absolute_path%?x}
dir=$(dirname -- "$absolute_path" && echo x) && dir=${dir%?x}
file=$(basename -- "$absolute_path" && echo x) && file=${file%?x}
ls -l -- "$dir/$file"
printf '$absolute_path: "%s"\n' "$absolute_path"
I believe I've got this one. I'm late to the party, but I think some will appreciate it being here if they come across this thread. The comments should explain:
#!/bin/sh # dash bash ksh # !zsh (issues). G. Nixon, 12/2013. Public domain.
## 'linkread' or 'fullpath' or (you choose) is a little tool to recursively
## dereference symbolic links (ala 'readlink') until the originating file
## is found. This is effectively the same function provided in stdlib.h as
## 'realpath' and on the command line in GNU 'readlink -f'.
## Neither of these tools, however, are particularly accessible on the many
## systems that do not have the GNU implementation of readlink, nor ship
## with a system compiler (not to mention the requisite knowledge of C).
## This script is written with portability and (to the extent possible, speed)
## in mind, hence the use of printf for echo and case statements where they
## can be substituded for test, though I've had to scale back a bit on that.
## It is (to the best of my knowledge) written in standard POSIX shell, and
## has been tested with bash-as-bin-sh, dash, and ksh93. zsh seems to have
## issues with it, though I'm not sure why; so probably best to avoid for now.
## Particularly useful (in fact, the reason I wrote this) is the fact that
## it can be used within a shell script to find the path of the script itself.
## (I am sure the shell knows this already; but most likely for the sake of
## security it is not made readily available. The implementation of "$0"
## specificies that the $0 must be the location of **last** symbolic link in
## a chain, or wherever it resides in the path.) This can be used for some
## ...interesting things, like self-duplicating and self-modifiying scripts.
## Currently supported are three errors: whether the file specified exists
## (ala ENOENT), whether its target exists/is accessible; and the special
## case of when a sybolic link references itself "foo -> foo": a common error
## for beginners, since 'ln' does not produce an error if the order of link
## and target are reversed on the command line. (See POSIX signal ELOOP.)
## It would probably be rather simple to write to use this as a basis for
## a pure shell implementation of the 'symlinks' util included with Linux.
## As an aside, the amount of code below **completely** belies the amount
## effort it took to get this right -- but I guess that's coding for you.
##===-------------------------------------------------------------------===##
for argv; do :; done # Last parameter on command line, for options parsing.
## Error messages. Use functions so that we can sub in when the error occurs.
recurses(){ printf "Self-referential:\n\t$argv ->\n\t$argv\n" ;}
dangling(){ printf "Broken symlink:\n\t$argv ->\n\t"$(readlink "$argv")"\n" ;}
errnoent(){ printf "No such file: "$#"\n" ;} # Borrow a horrible signal name.
# Probably best not to install as 'pathfull', if you can avoid it.
pathfull(){ cd "$(dirname "$#")"; link="$(readlink "$(basename "$#")")"
## 'test and 'ls' report different status for bad symlinks, so we use this.
if [ ! -e "$#" ]; then if $(ls -d "$#" 2>/dev/null) 2>/dev/null; then
errnoent 1>&2; exit 1; elif [ ! -e "$#" -a "$link" = "$#" ]; then
recurses 1>&2; exit 1; elif [ ! -e "$#" ] && [ ! -z "$link" ]; then
dangling 1>&2; exit 1; fi
fi
## Not a link, but there might be one in the path, so 'cd' and 'pwd'.
if [ -z "$link" ]; then if [ "$(dirname "$#" | cut -c1)" = '/' ]; then
printf "$#\n"; exit 0; else printf "$(pwd)/$(basename "$#")\n"; fi; exit 0
fi
## Walk the symlinks back to the origin. Calls itself recursivly as needed.
while [ "$link" ]; do
cd "$(dirname "$link")"; newlink="$(readlink "$(basename "$link")")"
case "$newlink" in
"$link") dangling 1>&2 && exit 1 ;;
'') printf "$(pwd)/$(basename "$link")\n"; exit 0 ;;
*) link="$newlink" && pathfull "$link" ;;
esac
done
printf "$(pwd)/$(basename "$newlink")\n"
}
## Demo. Install somewhere deep in the filesystem, then symlink somewhere
## else, symlink again (maybe with a different name) elsewhere, and link
## back into the directory you started in (or something.) The absolute path
## of the script will always be reported in the usage, along with "$0".
if [ -z "$argv" ]; then scriptname="$(pathfull "$0")"
# Yay ANSI l33t codes! Fancy.
printf "\n\033[3mfrom/as: \033[4m$0\033[0m\n\n\033[1mUSAGE:\033[0m "
printf "\033[4m$scriptname\033[24m [ link | file | dir ]\n\n "
printf "Recursive readlink for the authoritative file, symlink after "
printf "symlink.\n\n\n \033[4m$scriptname\033[24m\n\n "
printf " From within an invocation of a script, locate the script's "
printf "own file\n (no matter where it has been linked or "
printf "from where it is being called).\n\n"
else pathfull "$#"
fi
Try the following cross-compatible solution:
CWD="$(cd -P -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd -P)"
As the commands such as realpath or readlink could be not available (depending on the operating system).
Note: In Bash, it's recommended to use ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} instead of $0, otherwise path can break when sourcing the file (source/.).
Alternatively you can try the following function in Bash:
realpath () {
[[ $1 = /* ]] && echo "$1" || echo "$PWD/${1#./}"
}
This function takes one argument. If argument has already absolute path, print it as it is, otherwise print $PWD variable + filename argument (without ./ prefix).
Related:
How can I set the current working directory to the directory of the script in Bash?
Bash script absolute path with OS X
Reliable way for a Bash script to get the full path to itself
I'm still learning how to program in bash and for practice i'm trying to do a "backup script" (quotes because I know this isn't a proper backup) here is the code:
#|/bin/bash
sudo mkdir /home/lucas/bkp
echo "Type the path for the directory you want do save"
read directory
if [-d $directory]; then
sudo cp -R $directory /home/lucas/bkp/
else
echo "Path not found"
fi
But I get an error saying the path saved on variable does not exists and doing the same commands by "hand", directly on the shell everything is fine. Here is the error:
lucas#lucas-Linux:~$ sudo sh ./ex.sh
Type the path for the directory you want do save
/home/lucas/git/
./ex.sh: 7: ./ex.sh: [-d: not found
Path not found
You need to put spaces in your condition, like this :
if [ -d $directory ]; then
In my script, I am holding the location (path) of a file as a variable.
For example, fileA
An example of its contents are
fileA=/usr/anotherfolder/somefold/"filenamehere"
However, when i call a command on the file in the script such as:
cat $fileA
or
cat "$fileA"
I get an error saying the file or directory doesn't exist. If I echo $fileA to see what the output is, and then run a cat manually from the terminal, it works fine, don't know what is going wrong. Any help?
Some debug info:
fileA='/home/jacob/Desktop/CS35L/WORK/2/hw/test3/"new"'
echo '/home/jacob/Desktop/CS35L/WORK/2/hw/test3/"new"'
/home/jacob/Desktop/CS35L/WORK/2/hw/test3/"new"
'[' '!' -r '/home/jacob/Desktop/CS35L/WORK/2/hw/test3/"new"' ']'
For these particular lines
Check for readable file
echo $fileA
if [ ! -r "$fileA" ]
then
o=`expr $o + 1`
echo "$fileA not readable."
continue
fi
If file name is new(not "new"), then change
fileA='/home/jacob/Desktop/CS35L/WORK/2/hw/test3/"new"'
to
fileA=/home/jacob/Desktop/CS35L/WORK/2/hw/test3/new
Is there an easy way I can print the full path of file.txt ?
file.txt = /nfs/an/disks/jj/home/dir/file.txt
The <command>
dir> <command> file.txt
should print
/nfs/an/disks/jj/home/dir/file.txt
Use readlink:
readlink -f file.txt
I suppose you are using Linux.
I found a utility called realpath in coreutils 8.15.
realpath -s file.txt
/data/ail_data/transformed_binaries/coreutils/test_folder_realpath/file.txt
Since the question is about how to get the full/absolute path of a file and not about how to get the target of symlinks, use -s or --no-symlinks which means don't expand symlinks.
As per #styrofoam-fly and #arch-standton comments, realpath alone doesn't check for file existence, to solve this add the e argument: realpath -e file
The following usually does the trick:
echo "$(cd "$(dirname "$1")" && pwd -P)/$(basename "$1")"
I know there's an easier way that this, but darned if I can find it...
jcomeau#intrepid:~$ python -c 'import os; print(os.path.abspath("cat.wav"))'
/home/jcomeau/cat.wav
jcomeau#intrepid:~$ ls $PWD/cat.wav
/home/jcomeau/cat.wav
On Windows:
Holding Shift and right clicking on a file in Windows Explorer gives you an option called Copy as Path.
This will copy the full path of the file to clipboard.
On Linux:
You can use the command realpath yourfile to get the full path of a file as suggested by others.
find $PWD -type f | grep "filename"
or
find $PWD -type f -name "*filename*"
If you are in the same directory as the file:
ls "`pwd`/file.txt"
Replace file.txt with your target filename.
I know that this is an old question now, but just to add to the information here:
The Linux command which can be used to find the filepath of a command file, i.e.
$ which ls
/bin/ls
There are some caveats to this; please see https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-do-i-find-the-path-to-a-command-file/.
You could use the fpn (full path name) script:
% pwd
/Users/adamatan/bins/scripts/fpn
% ls
LICENSE README.md fpn.py
% fpn *
/Users/adamatan/bins/scripts/fpn/LICENSE
/Users/adamatan/bins/scripts/fpn/README.md
/Users/adamatan/bins/scripts/fpn/fpn.py
fpn is not a standard Linux package, but it's a free and open github project and you could set it up in a minute.
Works on Mac, Linux, *nix:
This will give you a quoted csv of all files in the current dir:
ls | xargs -I {} echo "$(pwd -P)/{}" | xargs | sed 's/ /","/g'
The output of this can be easily copied into a python list or any similar data structure.
echo $(cd $(dirname "$1") && pwd -P)/$(basename "$1")
This is explanation of what is going on at #ZeRemz's answer:
This script get relative path as argument "$1"
Then we get dirname part of that path (you can pass either dir or file to this script): dirname "$1"
Then we cd "$(dirname "$1") into this relative dir
&& pwd -P and get absolute path for it. -P option will avoid all symlinks
After that we append basename to absolute path: $(basename "$1")
As final step we echo it
You may use this function. If the file name is given without relative path, then it is assumed to be present in the current working directory:
abspath() { old=`pwd`;new=$(dirname "$1");if [ "$new" != "." ]; then cd $new; fi;file=`pwd`/$(basename "$1");cd $old;echo $file; }
Usage:
$ abspath file.txt
/I/am/in/present/dir/file.txt
Usage with relative path:
$ abspath ../../some/dir/some-file.txt
/I/am/in/some/dir/some-file.txt
With spaces in file name:
$ abspath "../../some/dir/another file.txt"
/I/am/in/some/dir/another file.txt
You can save this in your shell.rc or just put in console
function absolute_path { echo "$PWD/$1"; }
alias ap="absolute_path"
example:
ap somefile.txt
will output
/home/user/somefile.txt
I was surprised no one mentioned located.
If you have the locate package installed, you don't even need to be in the directory with the file of interest.
Say I am looking for the full pathname of a setenv.sh script. This is how to find it.
$ locate setenv.sh
/home/davis/progs/devpost_aws_disaster_response/python/setenv.sh
/home/davis/progs/devpost_aws_disaster_response/webapp/setenv.sh
/home/davis/progs/eb_testy/setenv.sh
Note, it finds three scripts in this case, but if I wanted just one I
would do this:
$ locate *testy*setenv.sh
/home/davis/progs/eb_testy/setenv.sh
This solution uses commands that exist on Ubuntu 22.04, but generally exist on most other Linux distributions, unless they are just to hardcore for s'mores.
The shortest way to get the full path of a file on Linux or Mac is to use the ls command and the PWD environment variable.
<0.o> touch afile
<0.o> pwd
/adir
<0.o> ls $PWD/afile
/adir/afile
You can do the same thing with a directory variable of your own, say d.
<0.o> touch afile
<0.o> d=/adir
<0.o> ls $d/afile
/adir/afile
Notice that without flags ls <FILE> and echo <FILE> are equivalent (for valid names of files in the current directory), so if you're using echo for that, you can use ls instead if you want.
If the situation is reversed, so that you have the full path and want the filename, just use the basename command.
<0.o> touch afile
<0.o> basename $PWD/afile
afile
In a similar scenario, I'm launching a cshell script from some other location. For setting the correct absolute path of the script so that it runs in the designated directory only, I'm using the following code:
set script_dir = `pwd`/`dirname $0`
$0 stores the exact string how the script was executed.
For e.g. if the script was launched like this: $> ../../test/test.csh,
$script_dir will contain /home/abc/sandbox/v1/../../test
For Mac OS X, I replaced the utilities that come with the operating system and replaced them with a newer version of coreutils. This allows you to access tools like readlink -f (for absolute path to files) and realpath (absolute path to directories) on your Mac.
The Homebrew version appends a 'G' (for GNU Tools) in front of the command name -- so the equivalents become greadlink -f FILE and grealpath DIRECTORY.
Instructions for how to install the coreutils/GNU Tools on Mac OS X through Homebrew can be found in this StackExchange arcticle.
NB: The readlink -f and realpath commands should work out of the box for non-Mac Unix users.
I like many of the answers already given, but I have found this really useful, especially within a script to get the full path of a file, including following symlinks and relative references such as . and ..
dirname `readlink -e relative/path/to/file`
Which will return the full path of the file from the root path onwards.
This can be used in a script so that the script knows which path it is running from, which is useful in a repository clone which could be located anywhere on a machine.
basePath=`dirname \`readlink -e $0\``
I can then use the ${basePath} variable in my scripts to directly reference other scripts.
Hope this helps,
Dave
This worked pretty well for me. It doesn't rely on the file system (a pro/con depending on need) so it'll be fast; and, it should be portable to most any *NIX. It does assume the passed string is indeed relative to the PWD and not some other directory.
function abspath () {
echo $1 | awk '\
# Root parent directory refs to the PWD for replacement below
/^\.\.\// { sub("^", "./") } \
# Replace the symbolic PWD refs with the absolute PWD \
/^\.\// { sub("^\.", ENVIRON["PWD"])} \
# Print absolute paths \
/^\// {print} \'
}
This is naive, but I had to make it to be POSIX compliant. Requires permission to cd into the file's directory.
#!/bin/sh
if [ ${#} = 0 ]; then
echo "Error: 0 args. need 1" >&2
exit 1
fi
if [ -d ${1} ]; then
# Directory
base=$( cd ${1}; echo ${PWD##*/} )
dir=$( cd ${1}; echo ${PWD%${base}} )
if [ ${dir} = / ]; then
parentPath=${dir}
else
parentPath=${dir%/}
fi
if [ -z ${base} ] || [ -z ${parentPath} ]; then
if [ -n ${1} ]; then
fullPath=$( cd ${1}; echo ${PWD} )
else
echo "Error: unsupported scenario 1" >&2
exit 1
fi
fi
elif [ ${1%/*} = ${1} ]; then
if [ -f ./${1} ]; then
# File in current directory
base=$( echo ${1##*/} )
parentPath=$( echo ${PWD} )
else
echo "Error: unsupported scenario 2" >&2
exit 1
fi
elif [ -f ${1} ] && [ -d ${1%/*} ]; then
# File in directory
base=$( echo ${1##*/} )
parentPath=$( cd ${1%/*}; echo ${PWD} )
else
echo "Error: not file or directory" >&2
exit 1
fi
if [ ${parentPath} = / ]; then
fullPath=${fullPath:-${parentPath}${base}}
fi
fullPath=${fullPath:-${parentPath}/${base}}
if [ ! -e ${fullPath} ]; then
echo "Error: does not exist" >&2
exit 1
fi
echo ${fullPath}
This works with both Linux and Mac OSX:
echo $(pwd)$/$(ls file.txt)
find / -samefile file.txt -print
Will find all the links to the file with the same inode number as file.txt
adding a -xdev flag will avoid find to cross device boundaries ("mount points"). (But this will probably cause nothing to be found if the find does not start at a directory on the same device as file.txt)
Do note that find can report multiple paths for a single filesystem object, because an Inode can be linked by more than one directory entry, possibly even using different names. For instance:
find /bin -samefile /bin/gunzip -ls
Will output:
12845178 4 -rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 2251 feb 9 2012 /bin/uncompress
12845178 4 -rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 2251 feb 9 2012 /bin/gunzip
Usually:
find `pwd` | grep <filename>
Alternatively, just for the current folder:
find `pwd` -maxdepth 1 | grep <filename>
This will work for both file and folder:
getAbsolutePath(){
[[ -d $1 ]] && { cd "$1"; echo "$(pwd -P)"; } ||
{ cd "$(dirname "$1")" || exit 1; echo "$(pwd -P)/$(basename "$1")"; }
}
Another Linux utility, that does this job:
fname <file>
For Mac OS, if you just want to get the path of a file in the finder, control click the file, and scroll down to "Services" at the bottom. You get many choices, including "copy path" and "copy full path". Clicking on one of these puts the path on the clipboard.
fp () {
PHYS_DIR=`pwd -P`
RESULT=$PHYS_DIR/$1
echo $RESULT | pbcopy
echo $RESULT
}
Copies the text to your clipboard and displays the text on the terminal window.
:)
(I copied some of the code from another stack overflow answer but cannot find that answer anymore)
In Mac OSX, do the following steps:
cd into the directory of the target file.
Type either of the following terminal commands.
Terminal
ls "`pwd`/file.txt"
echo $(pwd)/file.txt
Replace file.txt with your actual file name.
Press Enter
you#you:~/test$ ls
file
you#you:~/test$ path="`pwd`/`ls`"
you#you:~/test$ echo $path
/home/you/test/file
Beside "readlink -f" , another commonly used command:
$find /the/long/path/but/I/can/use/TAB/to/auto/it/to/ -name myfile
/the/long/path/but/I/can/use/TAB/to/auto/it/to/myfile
$
This also give the full path and file name at console
Off-topic: This method just gives relative links, not absolute. The readlink -f command is the right one.
I want a command (or probably an option to cp) that creates the destination directory if it does not exist.
Example:
cp -? file /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there
mkdir -p "$d" && cp file "$d"
(there's no such option for cp).
If both of the following are true:
You are using the GNU version of cp (and not, for instance, the Mac version), and
You are copying from some existing directory structure and you just need it recreated
then you can do this with the --parents flag of cp. From the info page (viewable at http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/cp-invocation.html#cp-invocation or with info cp or man cp):
--parents
Form the name of each destination file by appending to the target
directory a slash and the specified name of the source file. The
last argument given to `cp' must be the name of an existing
directory. For example, the command:
cp --parents a/b/c existing_dir
copies the file `a/b/c' to `existing_dir/a/b/c', creating any
missing intermediate directories.
Example:
/tmp $ mkdir foo
/tmp $ mkdir foo/foo
/tmp $ touch foo/foo/foo.txt
/tmp $ mkdir bar
/tmp $ cp --parents foo/foo/foo.txt bar
/tmp $ ls bar/foo/foo
foo.txt
Short Answer
To copy myfile.txt to /foo/bar/myfile.txt, use:
mkdir -p /foo/bar && cp myfile.txt $_
How does this work?
There's a few components to this, so I'll cover all the syntax step by step.
The mkdir utility, as specified in the POSIX standard, makes directories. The -p argument, per the docs, will cause mkdir to
Create any missing intermediate pathname components
meaning that when calling mkdir -p /foo/bar, mkdir will create /foo and /foo/bar if /foo doesn't already exist. (Without -p, it will instead throw an error.
The && list operator, as documented in the POSIX standard (or the Bash manual if you prefer), has the effect that cp myfile.txt $_ only gets executed if mkdir -p /foo/bar executes successfully. This means the cp command won't try to execute if mkdir fails for one of the many reasons it might fail.
Finally, the $_ we pass as the second argument to cp is a "special parameter" which can be handy for avoiding repeating long arguments (like file paths) without having to store them in a variable. Per the Bash manual, it:
expands to the last argument to the previous command
In this case, that's the /foo/bar we passed to mkdir. So the cp command expands to cp myfile.txt /foo/bar, which copies myfile.txt into the newly created /foo/bar directory.
Note that $_ is not part of the POSIX standard, so theoretically a Unix variant might have a shell that doesn't support this construct. However, I don't know of any modern shells that don't support $_; certainly Bash, Dash, and zsh all do.
A final note: the command I've given at the start of this answer assumes that your directory names don't have spaces in. If you're dealing with names with spaces, you'll need to quote them so that the different words aren't treated as different arguments to mkdir or cp. So your command would actually look like:
mkdir -p "/my directory/name with/spaces" && cp "my filename with spaces.txt" "$_"
Such an old question, but maybe I can propose an alternative solution.
You can use the install programme to copy your file and create the destination path "on the fly".
install -D file /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there/file
There are some aspects to take in consideration, though:
you need to specify also the destination file name, not only the destination path
the destination file will be executable (at least, as far as I saw from my tests)
You can easily amend the #2 by adding the -m option to set permissions on the destination file (example: -m 664 will create the destination file with permissions rw-rw-r--, just like creating a new file with touch).
And here it is the shameless link to the answer I was inspired by =)
Shell function that does what you want, calling it a "bury" copy because it digs a hole for the file to live in:
bury_copy() { mkdir -p `dirname $2` && cp "$1" "$2"; }
Here's one way to do it:
mkdir -p `dirname /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there` \
&& cp -r file /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there
dirname will give you the parent of the destination directory or file. mkdir -p `dirname ...` will then create that directory ensuring that when you call cp -r the correct base directory is in place.
The advantage of this over --parents is that it works for the case where the last element in the destination path is a filename.
And it'll work on OS X.
with all my respect for answers above, I prefer to use rsync as follow:
$ rsync -a directory_name /path_where_to_inject_your_directory/
example:
$ rsync -a test /usr/local/lib/
install -D file -m 644 -t /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there
This does it for me
cp -vaR ./from ./to
This is very late but it may help a rookie somewhere. If you need to AUTO create folders rsync should be your best friend.
rsync /path/to/sourcefile /path/to/tragetdir/thatdoestexist/
Simply add the following in your .bashrc, tweak if you need. Works in Ubuntu.
mkcp() {
test -d "$2" || mkdir -p "$2"
cp -r "$1" "$2"
}
E.g
If you want to copy 'test' file to destination directory 'd'
Use,
mkcp test a/b/c/d
mkcp will first check if destination directory exists or not, if not then make it and copy source file/directory.
Just to resume and give a complete working solution, in one line.
Be careful if you want to rename your file, you should include a way to provide a clean dir path to mkdir. $fdst can be file or dir.
Next code should work in any case.
fsrc=/tmp/myfile.unk
fdst=/tmp/dir1/dir2/dir3/myfile.txt
mkdir -p $(dirname ${fdst}) && cp -p ${fsrc} ${fdst}
or bash specific
fsrc=/tmp/myfile.unk
fdst=/tmp/dir1/dir2/dir3/myfile.txt
mkdir -p ${fdst%/*} && cp -p ${fsrc} ${fdst}
As suggested above by help_asap and spongeman you can use the 'install' command to copy files to existing directories or create create new destination directories if they don't already exist.
Option 1
install -D filename some/deep/directory/filename
copies file to a new or existing directory and gives filename default 755 permissions
Option 2
install -D filename -m640 some/deep/directory/filename
as per Option 1 but gives filename 640 permissions.
Option 3
install -D filename -m640 -t some/deep/directory/
as per Option 2 but targets filename into target directory so filename does not need to be written in both source and target.
Option 4
install -D filena* -m640 -t some/deep/directory/
as per Option 3 but uses a wildcard for multiple files.
It works nicely in Ubuntu and combines two steps (directory creation then file copy) into one single step.
Simply without creating script and with simple command ...
mkdir -p /destination-folder/ && cp file-name /destination-folder/
I wrote a support script for cp, called CP (note capital letters) that's intended to do exactly this. Script will check for errors in the path you've put in (except the last one which is the destination) and if all is well, it will do an mkdir -p step to create the destination path before starting the copy. At this point the regular cp utility takes over and any switches you use with CP (like -r, -p, -rpL gets piped directly to cp). Before you use my script, there are a few things you need to understand.
all the info here can be accessed by doing CP --help. CP --help-all include's cp's switches.
regular cp won't do the copy if it doesn't find the destination path. You don't have such a safety net for typos with CP. You're destination will be created, so if you misspell your destination as /usrr/share/icons or /usr/share/icon well that's what's going to be created.
regular cp tends to model it's behavior on the existing path: cp /a/b /c/d will vary on whether d exists or not. if d is an existing folder, cp will copy b into it, making /c/d/b. If d doesn't exist, b will be copied into c and renamed to d. If d exists but is a file and b is a file, it will be overwritten by b's copy. If c doesn't exist, cp doesn't do the copy and exits.
CP doesn't have the luxury of taking cues from existing paths, so it has to have some very firm behavior patterns. CP assumes that the item you're copying is being dropped in the destination path and is not the destination itself (aka, a renamed copy of the source file/folder). Meaning:
"CP /a/b /c/d" will result in /c/d/b if d is a folder
"CP /a/b /c/b" will result in /c/b/b if b in /c/b is a folder.
If both b and d are files: CP /a/b /c/d will result in /c/d (where d is a copy of b). Same for CP /a/b /c/b in the same circumstance.
This default CP behavior can be changed with the "--rename" switch. In this case, it's assumed that
"CP --rename /a/b /c/d" is copying b into /c and renaming the copy to d.
A few closing notes: Like with cp, CP can copy multiple items at a time with the last path being listed assumed to be the destination. It can also handle paths with spaces as long as you use quotation marks.
CP will check the paths you put in and make sure they exist before doing the copy. In strict mode (available through --strict switch), all files/folders being copied must exist or no copy takes place. In relaxed mode (--relaxed), copy will continue if at least one of the items you listed exists. Relaxed mode is the default, you can change the mode temporarily via the switches or permanently by setting the variable easy_going at the beginning of the script.
Here's how to install it:
In a non-root terminal, do:
sudo echo > /usr/bin/CP; sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/CP; sudo touch /usr/bin/CP
gedit admin:///usr/bin/CP
In gedit, paste CP utility and save:
#!/bin/bash
#Regular cp works with the assumption that the destination path exists and if it doesn't, it will verify that it's parent directory does.
#eg: cp /a/b /c/d will give /c/d/b if folder path /c/d already exists but will give /c/d (where d is renamed copy of b) if /c/d doesn't exists but /c does.
#CP works differently, provided that d in /c/d isn't an existing file, it assumes that you're copying item into a folder path called /c/d and will create it if it doesn't exist. so CP /a/b /c/d will always give /c/d/b unless d is an existing file. If you put the --rename switch, it will assume that you're copying into /c and renaming the singl item you're copying from b to d at the destination. Again, if /c doesn't exist, it will be created. So CP --rename /a/b /c/d will give a /c/d and if there already a folder called /c/d, contents of b will be merged into d.
#cp+ $source $destination
#mkdir -p /foo/bar && cp myfile "$_"
err=0 # error count
i=0 #item counter, doesn't include destination (starts at 1, ex. item1, item2 etc)
m=0 #cp switch counter (starts at 1, switch 1, switch2, etc)
n=1 # argument counter (aka the arguments inputed into script, those include both switches and items, aka: $1 $2 $3 $4 $5)
count_s=0
count_i=0
easy_going=true #determines how you deal with bad pathes in your copy, true will allow copy to continue provided one of the items being copied exists, false will exit script for one bad path. this setting can also be changed via the custom switches: --strict and --not-strict
verbal="-v"
help="===============================================================================\
\n CREATIVE COPY SCRIPT (CP) -- written by thebunnyrules\
\n===============================================================================\n
\n This script (CP, note capital letters) is intended to supplement \
\n your system's regular cp command (note uncapped letters). \n
\n Script's function is to check if the destination path exists \
\n before starting the copy. If it doesn't it will be created.\n
\n To make this happen, CP assumes that the item you're copying is \
\n being dropped in the destination path and is not the destination\
\n itself (aka, a renamed copy of the source file/folder). Meaning:\n
\n * \"CP /a/b /c/d\" will result in /c/d/b \
\n * even if you write \"CP /a/b /c/b\", CP will create the path /a/b, \
\n resulting in /c/b/b. \n
\n Of course, if /c/b or /c/d are existing files and /a/b is also a\
\n file, the existing destination file will simply be overwritten. \
\n This behavior can be changed with the \"--rename\" switch. In this\
\n case, it's assumed that \"CP --rename /a/b /c/d\" is copying b into /c \
\n and renaming the copy to d.\n
\n===============================================================================\
\n CP specific help: Switches and their Usages \
\n===============================================================================\n
\
\n --rename\tSee above. Ignored if copying more than one item. \n
\n --quiet\tCP is verbose by default. This quiets it.\n
\n --strict\tIf one+ of your files was not found, CP exits if\
\n\t\tyou use --rename switch with multiple items, CP \
\n\t\texits.\n
\n --relaxed\tIgnores bad paths unless they're all bad but warns\
\n\t\tyou about them. Ignores in-appropriate rename switch\
\n\t\twithout exiting. This is default behavior. You can \
\n\t\tmake strict the default behavior by editing the \
\n\t\tCP script and setting: \n
\n\t\teasy_going=false.\n
\n --help-all\tShows help specific to cp (in addition to CP)."
cp_hlp="\n\nRegular cp command's switches will still work when using CP.\
\nHere is the help out of the original cp command... \
\n\n===============================================================================\
\n cp specific help: \
\n===============================================================================\n"
outro1="\n******************************************************************************\
\n******************************************************************************\
\n******************************************************************************\
\n USE THIS SCRIPT WITH CARE, TYPOS WILL GIVE YOU PROBLEMS...\
\n******************************************************************************\
\n******************************* HIT q TO EXIT ********************************\
\n******************************************************************************"
#count and classify arguments that were inputed into script, output help message if needed
while true; do
eval input="\$$n"
in_=${input::1}
if [ -z "$input" -a $n = 1 ]; then input="--help"; fi
if [ "$input" = "-h" -o "$input" = "--help" -o "$input" = "-?" -o "$input" = "--help-all" ]; then
if [ "$input" = "--help-all" ]; then
echo -e "$help"$cp_hlp > /tmp/cp.hlp
cp --help >> /tmp/cp.hlp
echo -e "$outro1" >> /tmp/cp.hlp
cat /tmp/cp.hlp|less
cat /tmp/cp.hlp
rm /tmp/cp.hlp
else
echo -e "$help" "$outro1"|less
echo -e "$help" "$outro1"
fi
exit
fi
if [ -z "$input" ]; then
count_i=$(expr $count_i - 1 ) # remember, last item is destination and it's not included in cound
break
elif [ "$in_" = "-" ]; then
count_s=$(expr $count_s + 1 )
else
count_i=$(expr $count_i + 1 )
fi
n=$(expr $n + 1)
done
#error condition: no items to copy or no destination
if [ $count_i -lt 0 ]; then
echo "Error: You haven't listed any items for copying. Exiting." # you didn't put any items for copying
elif [ $count_i -lt 1 ]; then
echo "Error: Copying usually involves a destination. Exiting." # you put one item and no destination
fi
#reset the counter and grab content of arguments, aka: switches and item paths
n=1
while true; do
eval input="\$$n" #input=$1,$2,$3,etc...
in_=${input::1} #first letter of $input
if [ "$in_" = "-" ]; then
if [ "$input" = "--rename" ]; then
rename=true #my custom switches
elif [ "$input" = "--strict" ]; then
easy_going=false #exit script if even one of the non-destinations item is not found
elif [ "$input" = "--relaxed" ]; then
easy_going=true #continue script if at least one of the non-destination items is found
elif [ "$input" = "--quiet" ]; then
verbal=""
else
#m=$(expr $m + 1);eval switch$m="$input" #input is a switch, if it's not one of the above, assume it belongs to cp.
switch_list="$switch_list \"$input\""
fi
elif ! [ -z "$input" ]; then #if it's not a switch and input is not empty, it's a path
i=$(expr $i + 1)
if [ ! -f "$input" -a ! -d "$input" -a "$i" -le "$count_i" ]; then
err=$(expr $err + 1 ); error_list="$error_list\npath does not exit: \"b\""
else
if [ "$i" -le "$count_i" ]; then
eval item$i="$input"
item_list="$item_list \"$input\""
else
destination="$input" #destination is last items entered
fi
fi
else
i=0
m=0
n=1
break
fi
n=$(expr $n + 1)
done
#error condition: some or all item(s) being copied don't exist. easy_going: continue if at least one item exists, warn about rest, not easy_going: exit.
#echo "err=$err count_i=$count_i"
if [ "$easy_going" != true -a $err -gt 0 -a $err != $count_i ]; then
echo "Some of the paths you entered are incorrect. Script is running in strict mode and will therefore exit."
echo -e "Bad Paths: $err $error_list"
exit
fi
if [ $err = $count_i ]; then
echo "ALL THE PATHS you have entered are incorrect! Exiting."
echo -e "Bad Paths: $err $error_list"
fi
#one item to one destination:
#------------------------------
#assumes that destination is folder, it does't exist, it will create it. (so copying /a/b/c/d/firefox to /e/f/firefox will result in /e/f/firefox/firefox
#if -rename switch is given, will assume that the top element of destination path is the new name for the the item being given.
#multi-item to single destination:
#------------------------------
#assumes destination is a folder, gives error if it exists and it's a file. -rename switch will be ignored.
#ERROR CONDITIONS:
# - multiple items being sent to a destination and it's a file.
# - if -rename switch was given and multiple items are being copied, rename switch will be ignored (easy_going). if not easy_going, exit.
# - rename option but source is folder, destination is file, exit.
# - rename option but source is file and destination is folder. easy_going: option ignored.
if [ -f "$destination" ]; then
if [ $count_i -gt 1 ]; then
echo "Error: You've selected a single file as a destination and are copying multiple items to it. Exiting."; exit
elif [ -d "$item1" ]; then
echo "Error: Your destination is a file but your source is a folder. Exiting."; exit
fi
fi
if [ "$rename" = true ]; then
if [ $count_i -gt 1 ]; then
if [ $easy_going = true ]; then
echo "Warning: you choose the rename option but are copying multiple items. Ignoring Rename option. Continuing."
else
echo "Error: you choose the rename option but are copying multiple items. Script running in strict mode. Exiting."; exit
fi
elif [ -d "$destination" -a -f "$item1" ]; then
echo -n "Warning: you choose the rename option but source is a file and destination is a folder with the same name. "
if [ $easy_going = true ]; then
echo "Ignoring Rename option. Continuing."
else
echo "Script running in strict mode. Exiting."; exit
fi
else
dest_jr=$(dirname "$destination")
if [ -d "$destination" ]; then item_list="$item1/*";fi
mkdir -p "$dest_jr"
fi
else
mkdir -p "$destination"
fi
eval cp $switch_list $verbal $item_list "$destination"
cp_err="$?"
if [ "$cp_err" != 0 ]; then
echo -e "Something went wrong with the copy operation. \nExit Status: $cp_err"
else
echo "Copy operation exited with no errors."
fi
exit
cp has multiple usages:
$ cp --help
Usage: cp [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST
or: cp [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
or: cp [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...
Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.
#AndyRoss's answer works for the
cp SOURCE DEST
style of cp, but does the wrong thing if you use the
cp SOURCE... DIRECTORY/
style of cp.
I think that "DEST" is ambiguous without a trailing slash in this usage (i.e. where the target directory doesn't yet exist), which is perhaps why cp has never added an option for this.
So here's my version of this function which enforces a trailing slash on the dest dir:
cp-p() {
last=${#: -1}
if [[ $# -ge 2 && "$last" == */ ]] ; then
# cp SOURCE... DEST/
mkdir -p "$last" && cp "$#"
else
echo "cp-p: (copy, creating parent dirs)"
echo "cp-p: Usage: cp-p SOURCE... DEST/"
fi
}
i strongly suggest ditto.
just works.
ditto my/location/poop.txt this/doesnt/exist/yet/poop.txt
Just had the same issue. My approach was to just tar the files into an archive like so:
tar cf your_archive.tar file1 /path/to/file2 path/to/even/deeper/file3
tar automatically stores the files in the appropriate structure within the archive. If you run
tar xf your_archive.tar
the files are extracted into the desired directory structure.
Copy from source to an non existing path
mkdir –p /destination && cp –r /source/ $_
NOTE: this command copies all the files
cp –r for copying all folders and its content
$_ work as destination which is created in last command
Oneliner to create a small script that can be used as subcommand, in find for instance:
set +H; echo -e "#!/bin/sh\nmkdir -p \$(dirname \"\$2\"); cp \"\$1\" \"$2\"\;" > ~/local/bin/cpmkdir; chmod +x ~/local/bin/cpmkdir
You can then use it like:
find -name files_you_re_lookin_for.* -exec cpmkdir {} ../extracted_copy/{} \;
rsync file /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there
This might work, if you have the right kind of rsync.
You can use find with Perl. Command will be like this:
find file | perl -lne '$t = "/path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there/"; /^(.+)\/.+$/; `mkdir -p $t$1` unless(-d "$t$1"); `cp $_ $t$_` unless(-f "$t$_");'
This command will create directory $t if it doesn't exist. And than copy file into $t only unless file exists inside $t.
This works on GNU /bin/bash version 3.2 on MacOS (tested on both Catalina and Big Sur)
cp -Rv <existing-source-folder>/ <non-existing-2becreated-destination-folder>
the "v" option is for verbose.
And I think of the "-R" option as "Recursive".
man's full description of -R is:
If source_file designates a directory, cp copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. If the source_file ends in a /, the contents of the directory are copied rather than the directory itself. This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than indirected through, and for cp to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source directory, unmodified by the process' umask.
In -R mode, cp will continue copying even if errors are detected.
Note that cp copies hard-linked files as separate files. If you need to preserve hard links, consider using tar(1), cpio(1), or pax(1) instead.
In the example below, I'm using a "/" at the end of existingfolder so that it copies all the contents of existingfolder (and not the folder itself) into newfolder:
cp -Rv existingfolder/ newfolder
Try it.
Only for macOS
rsync -R <source file path> destination_folder
For macOS --parents option of cp doesn't work
Many of the other solutions don't work on files or folders which need escaping. Here is a solution which works for files and folders, and escapes spaces and other special characters. Tested in a busybox ash shell which doesn't have access to some of the fancier options.
export file="annoying folder/bar.txt"
export new_parent="/tmp/"
# Creates /tmp/annoying folder/
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$new_folder/$file")"
# Copies file to /tmp/annoying folder/bar.txt
cp -r "$file" "$new_folder/$file"
This should also work if you omit bar.txt if you need the recursive copy of a whole folder.
Let's say you are doing something like
cp file1.txt A/B/C/D/file.txt
where A/B/C/D are directories which do not exist yet
A possible solution is as follows
DIR=$(dirname A/B/C/D/file.txt)
# DIR= "A/B/C/D"
mkdir -p $DIR
cp file1.txt A/B/C/D/file.txt
hope that helps!
Simple
cp -a * /path/to/dst/
should do the trick.