relative/absolute paths?

mkohler · 11-12-2010, 10:11 AM

Hi,

I am creating a script and the script will move files to a specified directory. I want the user to be able to enter relative or absolute path names but how can I store the original directory this way? I have tried this :

path=`pwd`
if [ $1=$path* ]; then
echo $1 >> /root/.../pathName.txt
mv $1 /root/.../
else
echo `pwd`/$1 >> /root/.../pathName.txt
mv $1 /root/.../
fi

no matter whether I type a relative or absolute path name I always meet the condition at the start

Thanks for any help!

MensaWater · 11-12-2010, 12:12 PM

You have an extraneous asterisk in the test "$path*" - it should just be "$path".

There should be spaces around your equal sign - it may be thinking you're trying to set the variable there rather than doing a test. (Setting a variable would likely always succeed so it would always meet the condition it thinks you're testing for rather than the one you think it is). It should be:
if [ $1 = $path ]

mkohler · 11-12-2010, 03:55 PM

tried that but doesnt seem to work i just want to write the original pathname of the file im moving to a text file
cant get it to work any other ideas?

martinbc · 11-13-2010, 03:45 AM

Hi

If you set path with

Code:

path=`pwd`"*"

and modify your if line to

Code:

if [[ $1 =~ $path ]]; then

that might work (but not with a filename of ./filename)

The =~ performs a regex comparison

Martin