bash script in unix - return full path and filename

Question

I want to design bash script in unix and this bash return full path because I want to use this file in other places.

Full path of what? Self, as in the full path of the running script or some other object? A text string passed to your script as an argument? — Caleb, Oct 04 '10 at 14:10
critically you did not say whether you are executing or sourcing the script as it imparts very different approaches to solving the path question — Scott Stensland, Mar 15 '18 at 02:28

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 04 '10 at 13:53

2

Give this a try if you have readlink on your system:

readlink -e filename

answered Oct 04 '10 at 13:53

Dennis Williamson

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i try to execute it and this is a result ` readlink: not found` – Mohammad AL-Rawabdeh Oct 04 '10 at 13:57
`readlink` is not on every un*x (it's specific to gnu) – michael Apr 14 '13 at 03:20

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 04 '10 at 14:00

1

Are you looking for the full path and filename of the running script?

#!/bin/bash

_my_name=basename $0

if [ "echo $0 | cut -c1" = "/" ]; then

 _my_path=`dirname $0`

else

 _my_path=`pwd`/`echo $0 | sed -e s/$_my_name//`

fi

echo " Filename: $_my_name"

echo "Absolute path: $_my_path"

echo "Full Path + Name: $0"

answered Oct 04 '10 at 14:00

racyclist

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@Osama Ahmad: See [BashFAQ/028](http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/028). – Dennis Williamson Oct 04 '10 at 14:32

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 14 '13 at 03:28

Since this question is not trying to answer the harder question of converting a path with symbolic links into a physical path (w/o any links), but rather just get the directory and/or full path to the original script, there is a simpler solution (broken down in this example into components for legibility, plus you may want to use any of these pieces individually):

#!/bin/bash
PROG_PATH=${BASH_SOURCE[0]}      # this script's name
PROG_NAME=${PROG_PATH##*/}       # basename of script (strip path)
PROG_DIR=$(cd "$(dirname "${PROG_PATH:-$PWD}")" 2>/dev/null 1>&2 && pwd)

echo "script directory is: $PROG_DIR"

Your test cases should involve calling this script with an absolute path, relative path, "sourcing" it, etc., and always ending up with the directory containing the script.

bash script in unix - return full path and filename

3 Answers3