How to create command to start a program without going to that folder?
 

I know this should be a simple thing to do, but I've searched around, and haven't found the way to do it- partially because I'm not sure what to call it.

I want to create a command that will start a program. I want to be able to open the program with this command regardless of whether I am working in the directory where the program is located or not. Also, is there a name for doing this?

I've adjusted my .bash_profile file to include in my $PATH the directory where the program is located, but it still is not working, and I'm not sure what else to try. :Pengy:

Thanks for your help!!!

janestclaire

Try something like this:
/bin/sh -c "/usr/bin/gimp-2.2" or
-e sh -c \"/usr/bin/elinks\"

I use IceWM and looking at all of the programs in the menu those are the 2 commands that are set to launch various programs.

For apps that aren't on the menu I use Grun, it is an app launcher, I just browse to where the app is or type in the name.

I think I know what you mean. I don't know a specific name for it. For my example I'll use doom legacy, because that has a similar issue. If I type from my home directory:

/mnt/Programs/doom/lsdldoom -iwad doom.wad

It won't work because I have to be in the /mnt/Programs/doom directory for lsdldoom to find the iwad. I could also provide the path to the iwad in the same command but that can become a long command to type and that's more possibility to make typos.
I would create a script like this:

#!/bin/bash
cd /mnt/Programs/doom
lsdldoom -iwad doom.wad
cd ~

and save it in my ~ directory. Don't forget to make it executable.

Thanks Dracolich- that worked! (at least it seems to be working)

Is this a "shell script"? Also, you said to make sure it is executable. I'm not sure how, but I took the example you gave, modified it for my program, and made the file using vi editor. Then I just saved it into my home directory. When I typed the name of the vi file into the command line it opened my program.

But, I didn't do anything special to make it executable-- can you explain this a little more?

Thanks again!!

janestclaire

Use ; for multiple commands, i.e.,

cd /mnt/Programs/doom ; lsdldoom -iwad doom.wad ; cd ~

does multiple commands. [And use ; as often as you want.]

Sheng-Chieh

Yeah, I know about the semicolons. That just makes the script two lines instead of four.

This qualifies as a shell script - a script file that executes a series of shell commands.

Maybe RH does some things automagically that Slackware doesn't. If you type

ls -l <filename>

for your script file what permissions do you see? (e.g. -rwxrwxr--) X's indicate execute permission. When I make a script I have to use 'chmod +x filename' to add the execute permission before it'll run.

I'm not sure why it worked before, because after ls -l, the permissions were -rw-r-----. However, I made it an executable just in case.

Sorry- I didn't think about looking at the ls -l to figure out that it was an executable. I'm still pretty new to this stuff.

Thanks again!
janestclaire