bash script 'test' question

linmix · 11-28-2005, 03:33 PM

I'm sure there's some incredibly stupid oversight in all of this, but I can't seem to find it.

Code:

#!/bin/bash

base_path="/home/linmix/"

case $1 in
        -pm)
	   test "$base_path/$2" != " " || mkdir "$base_path/$2"

	   cd $base_path/$2
	   for i in 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ; do
           touch ${i}.txt
	   done
	   exit
        ;;
(etc)

What's causing me trouble is that I cannot figure out how to get mkdir to work only if there is no dir already in place. The either works if there is no file and gives me a mkdir warning if there is one, or it exits saying it can't cd if there was no previous file and works fine if there is.

The stupidest thing is I had it working, then I made some changes and now I can't get it right again!

I've also tried

Code:

if test "$base_path/$2" = " " ; then
	   mkdir "$base_path/$2"
fi

But with the same result

command issued: ./script -pm 002
output: mkdir: cannot create directory `/home/linmix/002': File exists

I've also tried
[code]test "$base_path/$2" = " " && mkdir "$base_path/$2"/code]
sane problem...

AdaHacker · 11-28-2005, 03:55 PM

Why are you comparing the path to the string " "? That doesn't make any sense. Why not just directly test if the directory exists?

Code:

test ! -d "$base_path/$2" && mkdir "$base_path/$2"

linmix · 11-29-2005, 12:53 AM

My iea was that if the directory is " " (nonexistent) , then make it.

Thanks for the line!

Dark_Helmet · 11-29-2005, 01:01 AM

Why even test for the directory?

mkdir -p dirname does not complain if dirname already exists.

vivekr · 11-29-2005, 05:17 AM

Hai this will be more informative right

Code:

#!/bin/bash
base_path="/home/vivek/"
case $1 in
        -pm)
           if [ ! -d "$base_path/$2" ]; then
                  mkdir "$base_path/$2"
           fi
           cd $base_path/$2
           for i in 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ; do
                touch ${i}.txt
           done
           exit
        ;;
esac

Cheers

linmix · 11-29-2005, 11:49 AM

I like the if statement, even if the && line works well. Looks like I'll have to read up on test.
Thanks guys!!