I'm trying to write an extremely simple script in Ubuntu which would allow me to pass it either a filename or a directory, and be able to do something specific when it's a file, and something else when it's a directory. The problem I'm having is when the directory name, or probably files too, has spaces or other escapable characters are in the name.
Here's my basic code down below, and a couple tests.
#!/bin/bash
PASSED=$1
if [ -d "${PASSED}" ] ; then
echo "$PASSED is a directory";
else
if [ -f "${PASSED}" ]; then
echo "${PASSED} is a file";
else
echo "${PASSED} is not valid";
exit 1
fi
fi
And here's the output:
andy@server~ $ ./scripts/testmove.sh /home/andy/
/home/andy/ is a directory
andy@server~ $ ./scripts/testmove.sh /home/andy/blah.txt
/home/andy/blah.txt is a file
andy@server~ $ ./scripts/testmove.sh /home/andy/blah\ with\ a\ space.txt
/home/andy/blah with a space.txt is not valid
andy@server~ $ ./scripts/testmove.sh /home/andy\ with\ a\ space/
/home/andy with a space/ is not valid
All of those paths are valid, and exist.
That should work. I am not sure why it's failing. You're quoting your variables properly. What happens if you use this script with double [[
]]
?
if [[ -d $PASSED ]]; then
echo "$PASSED is a directory"
elif [[ -f $PASSED ]]; then
echo "$PASSED is a file"
else
echo "$PASSED is not valid"
exit 1
fi
Double square brackets is a bash extension to [ ]
. It doesn't require variables to be quoted, not even if they contain spaces.
Also worth trying: -e
to test if a path exists without testing what type of file it is.
At least write the code without the bushy tree:
#!/bin/bash
PASSED=$1
if [ -d "${PASSED}" ]
then echo "${PASSED} is a directory";
elif [ -f "${PASSED}" ]
then echo "${PASSED} is a file";
else echo "${PASSED} is not valid";
exit 1
fi
When I put that into a file "xx.sh" and create a file "xx sh", and run it, I get:
$ cp /dev/null "xx sh"
$ for file in . xx*; do sh "$file"; done
. is a directory
xx sh is a file
xx.sh is a file
$
Given that you are having problems, you should debug the script by adding:
ls -l "${PASSED}"
This will show you what ls
thinks about the names you pass the script.
Using -f
and -d
switches on /bin/test
:
F_NAME="${1}"
if test -f "${F_NAME}"
then
echo "${F_NAME} is a file"
elif test -d "${F_NAME}"
then
echo "${F_NAME} is a directory"
else
echo "${F_NAME} is not valid"
fi
A more elegant solution
echo "Enter the file name"
read x
if [ -f $x ]
then
echo "This is a regular file"
else
echo "This is a directory"
fi
UPDATED:
I was downvoted so I decided to re-write my answer, thanks for the feedback.
Using the "file" command may be useful for this:
#!/bin/bash
check_file(){
if [ -z "${1}" ] ;then
echo "Please input something"
return;
fi
f="${1}"
result="$(file $f)"
if [[ $result == *"cannot open"* ]] ;then
echo "NO FILE FOUND ($result) ";
elif [[ $result == *"directory"* ]] ;then
echo "DIRECTORY FOUND ($result) ";
else
echo "FILE FOUND ($result) ";
fi
}
check_file ${1}
Output examples :
$ ./f.bash login
DIRECTORY FOUND (login: directory)
$ ./f.bash ldasdas
NO FILE FOUND (ldasdas: cannot open `ldasdas' (No such file or directory))
$ ./f.bash evil.php
FILE FOUND (evil.php: PHP script, ASCII text)
FYI: the answers above work but you can use -s to help in weird situations by checking for a valid file first:
#!/bin/bash
check_file(){
local file="${1}"
[[ -s "${file}" ]] || { echo "is not valid"; return; }
[[ -d "${file}" ]] && { echo "is a directory"; return; }
[[ -f "${file}" ]] && { echo "is a file"; return; }
}
check_file ${1}
#!/bin/bash
echo "Please Enter a file name :"
read filename
if test -f $filename
then
echo "this is a file"
else
echo "this is not a file"
fi