I'm writing a Bash script. I need the current working directory to always be the directory that the script is located in.
The default behavior is that the current working directory in the script is that of the shell from which I run it, but I do not want this behavior.
myscript path/to/file
I expect the script to evaluate path/to/file relative to MY current directory, not whatever directory the script happens to be located in. Also, what would you have happen for a script run with ssh remotehost bash < ./myscript
as the BASH FAQ mentions?
cd "${BASH_SOURCE%/*}" || exit
#!/bin/bash
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
The following also works:
cd "${0%/*}"
The syntax is thoroughly described in this StackOverflow answer.
bash script.sh
-- $0
will just be the name of the file
Try the following simple one-liners:
For all UNIX/OSX/Linux
dir=$(cd -P -- "$(dirname -- "$0")" && pwd -P)
Bash
dir=$(cd -P -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd -P)
Note: A double dash (--) is used in commands to signify the end of command options, so files containing dashes or other special characters won't break the command.
Note: In Bash, use ${BASH_SOURCE[0]}
in favor of $0
, otherwise the path can break when sourcing it (source
/.
).
For Linux, Mac and other *BSD:
cd "$(dirname "$(realpath "$0")")";
Note: realpath
should be installed in the most popular Linux distribution by default (like Ubuntu), but in some it can be missing, so you have to install it.
Note: If you're using Bash, use ${BASH_SOURCE[0]}
in favor of $0
, otherwise the path can break when sourcing it (source
/.
).
Otherwise you could try something like that (it will use the first existing tool):
cd "$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0" || realpath "$0")")"
For Linux specific:
cd "$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")"
Using GNU readlink on *BSD/Mac:
cd "$(dirname "$(greadlink -f "$0")")"
Note: You need to have coreutils
installed (e.g. 1. Install Homebrew, 2. brew install coreutils
).
In bash
In bash you can use Parameter Expansions to achieve that, like:
cd "${0%/*}"
but it doesn't work if the script is run from the same directory.
Alternatively you can define the following function in bash:
realpath () {
[[ $1 = /* ]] && echo "$1" || echo "$PWD/${1#./}"
}
This function takes 1 argument. If argument has already absolute path, print it as it is, otherwise print $PWD
variable + filename argument (without ./
prefix).
or here is the version taken from Debian .bashrc
file:
function realpath()
{
f=$@
if [ -d "$f" ]; then
base=""
dir="$f"
else
base="/$(basename "$f")"
dir=$(dirname "$f")
fi
dir=$(cd "$dir" && /bin/pwd)
echo "$dir$base"
}
Related:
How to detect the current directory in which I run my shell script?
Get the source directory of a Bash script from within the script itself
Bash script absolute path with OS X
Reliable way for a Bash script to get the full path to itself
See also:
How can I get the behavior of GNU's readlink -f on a Mac?
cp
command, @kenorb?
--
) is used in commands to signify the end of command options, so files containing dashes or other special characters won't break the command. Try e.g. create the file via touch "-test"
and touch -- -test
, then remove the file via rm "-test"
and rm -- -test
, and see the difference.
realpath
package is deprecated, not GNU realpath
. If you think it's not clear, you can suggest an edit.
cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
It's easy. It works.
cd "${BASH_SOURCE%/*}" || exit
The accepted answer works well for scripts that have not been symlinked elsewhere, such as into $PATH
.
#!/bin/bash
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
However if the script is run via a symlink,
ln -sv ~/project/script.sh ~/bin/;
~/bin/script.sh
This will cd into the ~/bin/
directory and not the ~/project/
directory, which will probably break your script if the purpose of the cd
is to include dependencies relative to ~/project/
The symlink safe answer is below:
#!/bin/bash
cd "$(dirname "$(readlink -f "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")" # cd current directory
readlink -f
is required to resolve the absolute path of the potentially symlinked file.
The quotes are required to support filepaths that could potentially contain whitespace (bad practice, but its not safe to assume this won't be the case)
This script seems to work for me:
#!/bin/bash
mypath=`realpath $0`
cd `dirname $mypath`
pwd
The pwd command line echoes the location of the script as the current working directory no matter where I run it from.
realpath
is unlikely to be installed everywhere. Which may not matter, depending on the OP's situation.
realpath
but it does have readlink
which seems to be similar.
There are a lot of correct answers in here, but one that tends to be more useful for me (making sure a script's relative paths remain predictable/work) is to use pushd/popd:
pushd "$(dirname ${BASH_SOURCE:0})"
trap popd EXIT
# ./xyz, etc...
This will push the source file's directory on to a navigation stack, thereby changing the working directory, but then, when the script exits (for whatever reason, including failure), the trap
will run popd
, restoring the current working directory before it was executed. If the script were to cd
and then fail, your terminal could be left in an unpredictable state after the execution ends - the trap prevents this.
I take this and it works.
#!/bin/bash
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
CUR_DIR=$(pwd)
Get the real path to your script
if [ -L $0 ] ; then
ME=$(readlink $0)
else
ME=$0
fi
DIR=$(dirname $ME)
(This is answer to the same my question here: Get the name of the directory where a script is executed)
cd "`dirname $(readlink -f ${0})`"
Most answers either don't handle files which are symlinked via a relative path, aren't one-liners or don't handle BSD (Mac). A solution which does all three is:
HERE=$(cd "$(dirname "$BASH_SOURCE")"; cd -P "$(dirname "$(readlink "$BASH_SOURCE" || echo .)")"; pwd)
First, cd to bash's conception of the script's directory. Then readlink the file to see if it is a symlink (relative or otherwise), and if so, cd to that directory. If not, cd to the current directory (necessary to keep things a one-liner). Then echo the current directory via pwd
.
You could add --
to the arguments of cd and readlink to avoid issues of directories named like options, but I don't bother for most purposes.
You can see the full explanation with illustrations here:
https://www.binaryphile.com/bash/2020/01/12/determining-the-location-of-your-script-in-bash.html
echo $PWD
PWD is an environment variable.
If you just need to print present working directory then you can follow this.
$ vim test
#!/bin/bash
pwd
:wq to save the test file.
Give execute permission:
chmod u+x test
Then execute the script by ./test
then you can see the present working directory.
pwd
? Seems like a lot of wasted keypresses to me.
Success story sharing
$0
. In your script you may expect, for example,../../
to refer to the directory two levels above the script's location, but this isn't necessarily the case if symbolic links are in play../script
,.
is the correct directory, and changing to.
it will also end up in the very directory wherescript
is located, i.e. in the current working directory.bash script.sh
, then the value of$0
isscript.sh
. The only way thecd
command will "work" for you is because you don't care about failed commands. If you were to useset -o errexit
(aka:set -e
) to ensure that your script doesn't blow past failed commands, this would NOT work becausecd script.sh
is an error. The reliable [bash specific] way iscd "$(dirname ${BASH_SOURCE[0]})"