Shell script current directory?

Question

What is current directory of shell script? I this current directory from which I called it? Or this directory where script located?

See also [What exactly is current working directory?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45591428/what-exactly-is-current-working-directory) which is superficially about Python but also relevant here. — tripleee, Apr 13 '22 at 06:29

score 169 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 12 '22 at 20:20

169

As already mentioned, the location will be where the script was called from. If you wish to have the script reference it's installed location, it's quite simple. Below is a snippet that will print the PWD and the installed directory:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Script executed from: ${PWD}"

BASEDIR=$(dirname $0)
echo "Script location: ${BASEDIR}"

edited Apr 12 '22 at 20:20

β.εηοιτ.βε

24,064
11
54
67

answered Oct 06 '12 at 17:05

krg

2,308
2
11
9

This doesn't work for me. It only gives the name of the containing dir, not the full path. For example, if I do that from a script in `/home/user/scripts/x.sh`, it returns `scripts`, not `/home/user/scripts`. – Synchro Feb 08 '22 at 10:08
I think this is because your current working directory is `/home/user` and you called the script by `scripts/x.sh`. Hence, `$0` value inside the script is `scripts/x.sh`. In order to get the absolute path of the script, you can use `BASEDIR=$(cd $(dirname $0) && pwd)` – mnabil Mar 18 '22 at 11:12

saada · Answer 2 · 2017-05-15T00:37:36.633

55

Most answers get you the current path and are context sensitive. In order to run your script from any directory, use the below snippet.

DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "$0" )" && pwd )"

By switching directories in a subshell, we can then call pwd and get the correct path of the script regardless of context.

You can then use $DIR as "$DIR/path/to/file"

edited May 15 '17 at 00:37

answered Dec 06 '13 at 22:32

saada

2,452
3
25
32

Can you explain what's going on? When my script gets run more than 20 times simultaneously, I get the following error: `....sh: fork: retry: Resource temporarily unavailable` The script gets run by OpenVPN. (under nogroup group and nobody account) – HosseyNJF Mar 25 '20 at 13:27

score 20 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 29 '12 at 08:23

20

The current(initial) directory of shell script is the directory from which you have called the script.

edited Mar 29 '12 at 08:23

ganesshkumar

1,237
1
16
34

answered Mar 27 '12 at 13:03

Merouane KHALILI

365
1
4

keyser · Answer 4 · 2016-06-19T09:30:31.463

8

You could do this yourself by checking the output from pwd when running it. This will print the directory you are currently in. Not the script.

If your script does not switch directories, it'll print the directory you ran it from.

edited Jun 19 '16 at 09:30

answered Mar 27 '12 at 12:59

keyser

18,349
16
58
97

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 24 '19 at 07:06

2

To print the current working Directory i.e. pwd just type command like:

echo "the PWD is : ${pwd}"

edited Oct 24 '19 at 07:06

4b0

20,627
30
92
137

answered Oct 24 '19 at 07:01

Sachin Java

29
1

Shell script current directory?

5 Answers5

Linked

Related