Find out the starting directory of a script

mydir=$(cd $(dirname ${BASH_SOURCE:-$0});pwd)

I submitted a command like this without $0 if $BASH_SOURCE is unset. Therefor, it did only work when using ./script, not using 'sh script'. This version handles both, and will set $mydir in a script to the current working directory. It also works on linux, osx and probably bsd.

By: xeor

2011-04-27 16:33:38

cd dirname cd script pwd

6 Alternatives + Submit Alt

Find out the starting directory of a script

Invoked from within a shell script, this will print the directory in which the script resides. Doesn't depend on external tools, /proc/self/*, etc.. (`echo` is a shell builtin.) To see the *current working* directory of a script, use `pwd`.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
13

echo "${0%/*}"

mhs · 2011-04-17 12:09:56 13
Find out current working directory of a process

This is an alternative to another command using two xargs. If it's a command you know there's only one of, you can just use: ls -l /proc/$(pgrep COMMAND)/cwd Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
$ eval ls -l /proc/{$(pgrep -d, vim)}/cwd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 splante 20000 0 Apr 14 09:25 /proc/11611/cwd -> /home/splante/p
lrwxrwxrwx 1 splante 20000 0 Apr 14 09:26 /proc/11680/cwd -> /tmp
$ sudo ls -l /proc/$(pgrep X)/cwd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Apr 13 18:31 /proc/3945/cwd -> /
```
3

eval ls -l /proc/{$(pgrep -d, COMMAND)}/cwd

splante · 2011-04-14 13:41:58 8
Find out current working directory of a process
This is sample output - yours may be different.
2

echo COMMAND | xargs -ixxx ps -C xxx -o pid= | xargs -ixxx ls -l /proc/xxx/cwd

ento · 2009-02-25 05:49:03 11
Find out current working directory of a process
This is sample output - yours may be different.
2

readlink /proc/self/cwd

linuts · 2011-04-14 23:14:28 8
Find out current working directory of a process

The pwdx command reports the current working directory of a process or processes. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
 $ pwdx $(pgrep bash)
2716: /home/user
 $ pwdx $(pgrep Xorg)
1414: Permission denied
```
0

pwdx $(pgrep command)

weidenrinde · 2013-02-01 08:33:15 8

What Others Think

Good afternoon. It's been a long time since I found such a useful service that can increase the efficiency of my sales department. Here is the 7 Best LinkedIn prospecting tools https://octopuscrm.io/linkedin-automation-tools/ Octopus CRM is one of the top tools for prospecting on LinkedIn in 2022. It really works, so I recommend everyone to try this service.

Asuma · 141 weeks and 3 days ago

rahimhh21 · 110 weeks and 6 days ago

Perfecthomepugs · 101 weeks and 4 days ago

pugpuppies95 · 63 weeks and 5 days ago

yeneba6574 · 17 weeks and 3 days ago

What do you think?

Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?

You must be signed in to comment.

What's this?

commandlinefu.com is the place to record those command-line gems that you return to again and again. That way others can gain from your CLI wisdom and you from theirs too. All commands can be commented on, discussed and voted up or down.

Share Your Commands

Similar Commands

Get full directory path of a script regardless of where it is run from

Copy all files. All normal files, all hidden files and all files starting with - (minus).

Count total number of subdirectories in current directory starting with specific name.

how to run a script to change directory

Stay in the loop…

Follow the Tweets.

Every new command is wrapped in a tweet and posted to Twitter. Following the stream is a great way of staying abreast of the latest commands. For the more discerning, there are Twitter accounts for commands that get a minimum of 3 and 10 votes - that way only the great commands get tweeted.

» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu
» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu3
» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu10

Subscribe to the feeds.

Use your favourite RSS aggregator to stay in touch with the latest commands. There are feeds mirroring the 3 Twitter streams as well as for virtually every other subset (users, tags, functions,…):

Subscribe to the feed for:

» all commands
» commands with 3 up-votes (commandlinefu3)
» commands with 10 up-votes (commandlinefu10)