Example:
absolute=\"/foo/bar\"
current=\"/foo/baz/foo\"
# Magic
relative=\"../../bar\"
How do I create the magic (hopefully not too complicated code...)?
Example:
absolute=\"/foo/bar\"
current=\"/foo/baz/foo\"
# Magic
relative=\"../../bar\"
How do I create the magic (hopefully not too complicated code...)?
$ python -c \"import os.path; print os.path.relpath(\'/foo/bar\', \'/foo/baz/foo\')\"
gives:
../../bar
Using realpath from GNU coreutils 8.23 is the simplest, I think:
$ realpath --relative-to=\"$file1\" \"$file2\"
For example:
$ realpath --relative-to=/usr/bin/nmap /tmp/testing
../../../tmp/testing
This is a corrected, fully functional improvement of the currently best rated solution from @pini (which sadly handle only a few cases)
Reminder : \'-z\' test if the string is zero-length (=empty) and \'-n\' test if the string is not empty.
# both $1 and $2 are absolute paths beginning with /
# returns relative path to $2/$target from $1/$source
source=$1
target=$2
common_part=$source # for now
result=\"\" # for now
while [[ \"${target#$common_part}\" == \"${target}\" ]]; do
# no match, means that candidate common part is not correct
# go up one level (reduce common part)
common_part=\"$(dirname $common_part)\"
# and record that we went back, with correct / handling
if [[ -z $result ]]; then
result=\"..\"
else
result=\"../$result\"
fi
done
if [[ $common_part == \"/\" ]]; then
# special case for root (no common path)
result=\"$result/\"
fi
# since we now have identified the common part,
# compute the non-common part
forward_part=\"${target#$common_part}\"
# and now stick all parts together
if [[ -n $result ]] && [[ -n $forward_part ]]; then
result=\"$result$forward_part\"
elif [[ -n $forward_part ]]; then
# extra slash removal
result=\"${forward_part:1}\"
fi
echo $result
Test cases :
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/A\" --> \"../..\"
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B\" --> \"..\"
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/C\" --> \"\"
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/C/D\" --> \"D\"
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/C/D/E\" --> \"D/E\"
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/D\" --> \"../D\"
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/D/E\" --> \"../D/E\"
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/D\" --> \"../../D\"
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/D/E\" --> \"../../D/E\"
compute_relative.sh \"/A/B/C\" \"/D/E/F\" --> \"../../../D/E/F\"
#!/bin/bash
# both $1 and $2 are absolute paths
# returns $2 relative to $1
source=$1
target=$2
common_part=$source
back=
while [ \"${target#$common_part}\" = \"${target}\" ]; do
common_part=$(dirname $common_part)
back=\"../${back}\"
done
echo ${back}${target#$common_part/}
It is built in to Perl since 2001, so it works on nearly every system you can imagine, even VMS.
perl -e \'use File::Spec; print File::Spec->abs2rel(@ARGV) . \"\\n\"\' FILE BASE
Also, the solution is easy to understand.
So for your example:
perl -e \'use File::Spec; print File::Spec->abs2rel(@ARGV) . \"\\n\"\' $absolute $current
...would work fine.
os.path.relpath
as a shell functionThe goal of this relpath
exercise is to mimic Python 2.7\'s os.path.relpath
function (available from Python version 2.6 but only working properly in 2.7), as proposed by xni. As a consequence, some of the results may differ from functions provided in other answers.
(I have not tested with newlines in paths simply because it breaks the validation based on calling python -c
from ZSH. It would certainly be possible with some effort.)
Regarding “magic” in Bash, I have given up looking for magic in Bash long ago, but I have since found all the magic I need, and then some, in ZSH.
Consequently, I propose two implementations.
The first implementation aims to be fully POSIX-compliant. I have tested it with /bin/dash
on Debian 6.0.6 “Squeeze”. It also works perfectly with /bin/sh
on OS X 10.8.3, which is actually Bash version 3.2 pretending to be a POSIX shell.
The second implementation is a ZSH shell function that is robust against multiple slashes and other nuisances in paths. If you have ZSH available, this is the recommended version, even if you are calling it in the script form presented below (i.e. with a shebang of #!/usr/bin/env zsh
) from another shell.
Finally, I have written a ZSH script that verifies the output of the relpath
command found in $PATH
given the test cases provided in other answers. I added some spice to those tests by adding some spaces, tabs, and punctuation such as ! ? *
here and there and also threw in yet another test with exotic UTF-8 characters found in vim-powerline.
First, the POSIX-compliant shell function. It works with a variety of paths, but does not clean multiple slashes or resolve symlinks.
#!/bin/sh
relpath () {
[ $# -ge 1 ] && [ $# -le 2 ] || return 1
current=\"${2:+\"$1\"}\"
target=\"${2:-\"$1\"}\"
[ \"$target\" != . ] || target=/
target=\"/${target##/}\"
[ \"$current\" != . ] || current=/
current=\"${current:=\"/\"}\"
current=\"/${current##/}\"
appendix=\"${target##/}\"
relative=\'\'
while appendix=\"${target#\"$current\"/}\"
[ \"$current\" != \'/\' ] && [ \"$appendix\" = \"$target\" ]; do
if [ \"$current\" = \"$appendix\" ]; then
relative=\"${relative:-.}\"
echo \"${relative#/}\"
return 0
fi
current=\"${current%/*}\"
relative=\"$relative${relative:+/}..\"
done
relative=\"$relative${relative:+${appendix:+/}}${appendix#/}\"
echo \"$relative\"
}
relpath \"$@\"
Now, the more robust zsh
version. If you would like it to resolve the arguments to real paths à la realpath -f
(available in the Linux coreutils
package), replace the :a
on lines 3 and 4 with :A
.
To use this in zsh, remove the first and last line and put it in a directory that is in your $FPATH
variable.
#!/usr/bin/env zsh
relpath () {
[[ $# -ge 1 ]] && [[ $# -le 2 ]] || return 1
local target=${${2:-$1}:a} # replace `:a\' by `:A` to resolve symlinks
local current=${${${2:+$1}:-$PWD}:a} # replace `:a\' by `:A` to resolve symlinks
local appendix=${target#/}
local relative=\'\'
while appendix=${target#$current/}
[[ $current != \'/\' ]] && [[ $appendix = $target ]]; do
if [[ $current = $appendix ]]; then
relative=${relative:-.}
print ${relative#/}
return 0
fi
current=${current%/*}
relative=\"$relative${relative:+/}..\"
done
relative+=${relative:+${appendix:+/}}${appendix#/}
print $relative
}
relpath \"$@\"
Finally, the test script. It accepts one option, namely -v
to enable verbose output.
#!/usr/bin/env zsh
set -eu
VERBOSE=false
script_name=$(basename $0)
usage () {
print \"\\n Usage: $script_name SRC_PATH DESTINATION_PATH\\n\" >&2
exit ${1:=1}
}
vrb () { $VERBOSE && print -P ${(%)@} || return 0; }
relpath_check () {
[[ $# -ge 1 ]] && [[ $# -le 2 ]] || return 1
target=${${2:-$1}}
prefix=${${${2:+$1}:-$PWD}}
result=$(relpath $prefix $target)
# Compare with python\'s os.path.relpath function
py_result=$(python -c \"import os.path; print os.path.relpath(\'$target\', \'$prefix\')\")
col=\'%F{green}\'
if [[ $result != $py_result ]] && col=\'%F{red}\' || $VERBOSE; then
print -P \"${col}Source: \'$prefix\'\\nDestination: \'$target\'%f\"
print -P \"${col}relpath: ${(qq)result}%f\"
print -P \"${col}python: ${(qq)py_result}%f\\n\"
fi
}
run_checks () {
print \"Running checks...\"
relpath_check \'/ a b/å/⮀*/!\' \'/ a b/å/⮀/xäå/?\'
relpath_check \'/\' \'/A\'
relpath_check \'/A\' \'/\'
relpath_check \'/ & / !/*/\\\\/E\' \'/\'
relpath_check \'/\' \'/ & / !/*/\\\\/E\'
relpath_check \'/ & / !/*/\\\\/E\' \'/ & / !/?/\\\\/E/F\'
relpath_check \'/X/Y\' \'/ & / !/C/\\\\/E/F\'
relpath_check \'/ & / !/C\' \'/A\'
relpath_check \'/A / !/C\' \'/A /B\'
relpath_check \'/Â/ !/C\' \'/Â/ !/C\'
relpath_check \'/ & /B / C\' \'/ & /B / C/D\'
relpath_check \'/ & / !/C\' \'/ & / !/C/\\\\/Ê\'
relpath_check \'/Å/ !/C\' \'/Å/ !/D\'
relpath_check \'/.A /*B/C\' \'/.A /*B/\\\\/E\'
relpath_check \'/ & / !/C\' \'/ & /D\'
relpath_check \'/ & / !/C\' \'/ & /\\\\/E\'
relpath_check \'/ & / !/C\' \'/\\\\/E/F\'
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /home/part1/part3
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /home/part4/part5
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /work/part6/part7
relpath_check /home/part1 /work/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath_check /home /work/part2/part3
relpath_check / /work/part2/part3/part4
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /home/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /home/part1/part2/part3
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /home/part1/part2
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /home/part1
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /home
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /work
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /work/part1
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /work/part1/part2
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /work/part1/part2/part3
relpath_check /home/part1/part2 /work/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath_check home/part1/part2 home/part1/part3
relpath_check home/part1/part2 home/part4/part5
relpath_check home/part1/part2 work/part6/part7
relpath_check home/part1 work/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath_check home work/part2/part3
relpath_check . work/part2/part3
relpath_check home/part1/part2 home/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath_check home/part1/part2 home/part1/part2/part3
relpath_check home/part1/part2 home/part1/part2
relpath_check home/part1/part2 home/part1
relpath_check home/part1/part2 home
relpath_check home/part1/part2 .
relpath_check home/part1/part2 work
relpath_check home/part1/part2 work/part1
relpath_check home/part1/part2 work/part1/part2
relpath_check home/part1/part2 work/part1/part2/part3
relpath_check home/part1/part2 work/part1/part2/part3/part4
print \"Done with checks.\"
}
if [[ $# -gt 0 ]] && [[ $1 = \"-v\" ]]; then
VERBOSE=true
shift
fi
if [[ $# -eq 0 ]]; then
run_checks
else
VERBOSE=true
relpath_check \"$@\"
fi
#!/bin/sh
# Return relative path from canonical absolute dir path $1 to canonical
# absolute dir path $2 ($1 and/or $2 may end with one or no \"/\").
# Does only need POSIX shell builtins (no external command)
relPath () {
local common path up
common=${1%/} path=${2%/}/
while test \"${path#\"$common\"/}\" = \"$path\"; do
common=${common%/*} up=../$up
done
path=$up${path#\"$common\"/}; path=${path%/}; printf %s \"${path:-.}\"
}
# Return relative path from dir $1 to dir $2 (Does not impose any
# restrictions on $1 and $2 but requires GNU Core Utility \"readlink\"
# HINT: busybox\'s \"readlink\" does not support option \'-m\', only \'-f\'
# which requires that all but the last path component must exist)
relpath () { relPath \"$(readlink -m \"$1\")\" \"$(readlink -m \"$2\")\"; }
Above shell script was inspired by pini\'s (Thanks!). It triggers a bug in the syntax highlighting module of Stack Overflow (at least in my preview frame). So please ignore if highlighting is incorrect.
Some notes:
Except for the mentioned backslash sequences the last line of function \"relPath\" outputs pathnames compatible to python:
path=$up${path#\"$common\"/}; path=${path%/}; printf %s \"${path:-.}\"
Last line can be replaced (and simplified) by line
printf %s \"$up${path#\"$common\"/}\"
I prefer the latter because
Filenames can be directly appended to dir paths obtained by relPath, e.g.:
ln -s \"$(relpath \"<fromDir>\" \"<toDir>\")<file>\" \"<fromDir>\"
Symbolic links in the same dir created with this method do not have
the ugly \"./\"
prepended to the filename.
Code listing for regression tests (simply append it to the shell script):
############################################################################
# If called with 2 arguments assume they are dir paths and print rel. path #
############################################################################
test \"$#\" = 2 && {
printf \'%s\\n\' \"Rel. path from \'$1\' to \'$2\' is \'$(relpath \"$1\" \"$2\")\'.\"
exit 0
}
#######################################################
# If NOT called with 2 arguments run regression tests #
#######################################################
format=\"\\t%-19s %-22s %-27s %-8s %-8s %-8s\\n\"
printf \\
\"\\n\\n*** Testing own and python\'s function with canonical absolute dirs\\n\\n\"
printf \"$format\\n\" \\
\"From Directory\" \"To Directory\" \"Rel. Path\" \"relPath\" \"relpath\" \"python\"
IFS=
while read -r p; do
eval set -- $p
case $1 in \'#\'*|\'\') continue;; esac # Skip comments and empty lines
# q stores quoting character, use \" if \' is used in path name
q=\"\'\"; case $1$2 in *\"\'\"*) q=\'\"\';; esac
rPOk=passed rP=$(relPath \"$1\" \"$2\"); test \"$rP\" = \"$3\" || rPOk=$rP
rpOk=passed rp=$(relpath \"$1\" \"$2\"); test \"$rp\" = \"$3\" || rpOk=$rp
RPOk=passed
RP=$(python -c \"import os.path; print os.path.relpath($q$2$q, $q$1$q)\")
test \"$RP\" = \"$3\" || RPOk=$RP
printf \\
\"$format\" \"$q$1$q\" \"$q$2$q\" \"$q$3$q\" \"$q$rPOk$q\" \"$q$rpOk$q\" \"$q$RPOk$q\"
done <<-\"EOF\"
# From directory To directory Expected relative path
\'/\' \'/\' \'.\'
\'/usr\' \'/\' \'..\'
\'/usr/\' \'/\' \'..\'
\'/\' \'/usr\' \'usr\'
\'/\' \'/usr/\' \'usr\'
\'/usr\' \'/usr\' \'.\'
\'/usr/\' \'/usr\' \'.\'
\'/usr\' \'/usr/\' \'.\'
\'/usr/\' \'/usr/\' \'.\'
\'/u\' \'/usr\' \'../usr\'
\'/usr\' \'/u\' \'../u\'
\"/u\'/dir\" \"/u\'/dir\" \".\"
\"/u\'\" \"/u\'/dir\" \"dir\"
\"/u\'/dir\" \"/u\'\" \"..\"
\"/\" \"/u\'/dir\" \"u\'/dir\"
\"/u\'/dir\" \"/\" \"../..\"
\"/u\'\" \"/u\'\" \".\"
\"/\" \"/u\'\" \"u\'\"
\"/u\'\" \"/\" \"..\"
\'/u\"/dir\' \'/u\"/dir\' \'.\'
\'/u\"\' \'/u\"/dir\' \'dir\'
\'/u\"/dir\' \'/u\"\' \'..\'
\'/\' \'/u\"/dir\' \'u\"/dir\'
\'/u\"/dir\' \'/\' \'../..\'
\'/u\"\' \'/u\"\' \'.\'
\'/\' \'/u\"\' \'u\"\'
\'/u\"\' \'/\' \'..\'
\'/u /dir\' \'/u /dir\' \'.\'
\'/u \' \'/u /dir\' \'dir\'
\'/u /dir\' \'/u \' \'..\'
\'/\' \'/u /dir\' \'u /dir\'
\'/u /dir\' \'/\' \'../..\'
\'/u \' \'/u \' \'.\'
\'/\' \'/u \' \'u \'
\'/u \' \'/\' \'..\'
\'/u\\n/dir\' \'/u\\n/dir\' \'.\'
\'/u\\n\' \'/u\\n/dir\' \'dir\'
\'/u\\n/dir\' \'/u\\n\' \'..\'
\'/\' \'/u\\n/dir\' \'u\\n/dir\'
\'/u\\n/dir\' \'/\' \'../..\'
\'/u\\n\' \'/u\\n\' \'.\'
\'/\' \'/u\\n\' \'u\\n\'
\'/u\\n\' \'/\' \'..\'
\'/ a b/å/⮀*/!\' \'/ a b/å/⮀/xäå/?\' \'../../⮀/xäå/?\'
\'/\' \'/A\' \'A\'
\'/A\' \'/\' \'..\'
\'/ & / !/*/\\\\/E\' \'/\' \'../../../../..\'
\'/\' \'/ & / !/*/\\\\/E\' \' & / !/*/\\\\/E\'
\'/ & / !/*/\\\\/E\' \'/ & / !/?/\\\\/E/F\' \'../../../?/\\\\/E/F\'
\'/X/Y\' \'/ & / !/C/\\\\/E/F\' \'../../ & / !/C/\\\\/E/F\'
\'/ & / !/C\' \'/A\' \'../../../A\'
\'/A / !/C\' \'/A /B\' \'../../B\'
\'/Â/ !/C\' \'/Â/ !/C\' \'.\'
\'/ & /B / C\' \'/ & /B / C/D\' \'D\'
\'/ & / !/C\' \'/ & / !/C/\\\\/Ê\' \'\\\\/Ê\'
\'/Å/ !/C\' \'/Å/ !/D\' \'../D\'
\'/.A /*B/C\' \'/.A /*B/\\\\/E\' \'../\\\\/E\'
\'/ & / !/C\' \'/ & /D\' \'../../D\'
\'/ & / !/C\' \'/ & /\\\\/E\' \'../../\\\\/E\'
\'/ & / !/C\' \'/\\\\/E/F\' \'../../../\\\\/E/F\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/home/p1/p3\' \'../p3\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/home/p4/p5\' \'../../p4/p5\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/work/p6/p7\' \'../../../work/p6/p7\'
\'/home/p1\' \'/work/p1/p2/p3/p4\' \'../../work/p1/p2/p3/p4\'
\'/home\' \'/work/p2/p3\' \'../work/p2/p3\'
\'/\' \'/work/p2/p3/p4\' \'work/p2/p3/p4\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/home/p1/p2/p3/p4\' \'p3/p4\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/home/p1/p2/p3\' \'p3\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/home/p1/p2\' \'.\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/home/p1\' \'..\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/home\' \'../..\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/\' \'../../..\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/work\' \'../../../work\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/work/p1\' \'../../../work/p1\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/work/p1/p2\' \'../../../work/p1/p2\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/work/p1/p2/p3\' \'../../../work/p1/p2/p3\'
\'/home/p1/p2\' \'/work/p1/p2/p3/p4\' \'../../../work/p1/p2/p3/p4\'
\'/-\' \'/-\' \'.\'
\'/?\' \'/?\' \'.\'
\'/??\' \'/??\' \'.\'
\'/???\' \'/???\' \'.\'
\'/?*\' \'/?*\' \'.\'
\'/*\' \'/*\' \'.\'
\'/*\' \'/**\' \'../**\'
\'/*\' \'/***\' \'../***\'
\'/*.*\' \'/*.**\' \'../*.**\'
\'/*.???\' \'/*.??\' \'../*.??\'
\'/[]\' \'/[]\' \'.\'
\'/[a-z]*\' \'/[0-9]*\' \'../[0-9]*\'
EOF
format=\"\\t%-19s %-22s %-27s %-8s %-8s\\n\"
printf \"\\n\\n*** Testing own and python\'s function with arbitrary dirs\\n\\n\"
printf \"$format\\n\" \\
\"From Directory\" \"To Directory\" \"Rel. Path\" \"relpath\" \"python\"
IFS=
while read -r p; do
eval set -- $p
case $1 in \'#\'*|\'\') continue;; esac # Skip comments and empty lines
# q stores quoting character, use \" if \' is used in path name
q=\"\'\"; case $1$2 in *\"\'\"*) q=\'\"\';; esac
rpOk=passed rp=$(relpath \"$1\" \"$2\"); test \"$rp\" = \"$3\" || rpOk=$rp
RPOk=passed
RP=$(python -c \"import os.path; print os.path.relpath($q$2$q, $q$1$q)\")
test \"$RP\" = \"$3\" || RPOk=$RP
printf \"$format\" \"$q$1$q\" \"$q$2$q\" \"$q$3$q\" \"$q$rpOk$q\" \"$q$RPOk$q\"
done <<-\"EOF\"
# From directory To directory Expected relative path
\'usr/p1/..//./p4\' \'p3/../p1/p6/.././/p2\' \'../../p1/p2\'
\'./home/../../work\' \'..//././../dir///\' \'../../dir\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'home/p1/p3\' \'../p3\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'home/p4/p5\' \'../../p4/p5\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'work/p6/p7\' \'../../../work/p6/p7\'
\'home/p1\' \'work/p1/p2/p3/p4\' \'../../work/p1/p2/p3/p4\'
\'home\' \'work/p2/p3\' \'../work/p2/p3\'
\'.\' \'work/p2/p3\' \'work/p2/p3\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'home/p1/p2/p3/p4\' \'p3/p4\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'home/p1/p2/p3\' \'p3\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'home/p1/p2\' \'.\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'home/p1\' \'..\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'home\' \'../..\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'.\' \'../../..\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'work\' \'../../../work\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'work/p1\' \'../../../work/p1\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'work/p1/p2\' \'../../../work/p1/p2\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'work/p1/p2/p3\' \'../../../work/p1/p2/p3\'
\'home/p1/p2\' \'work/p1/p2/p3/p4\' \'../../../work/p1/p2/p3/p4\'
EOF
Presuming that you have installed: bash, pwd, dirname, echo; then relpath is
#!/bin/bash
s=$(cd ${1%%/};pwd); d=$(cd $2;pwd); while [ \"${d#$s/}\" == \"${d}\" ]
do s=$(dirname $s);b=\"../${b}\"; done; echo ${b}${d#$s/}
I\'ve golfed the answer from pini and a few other ideas
This script gives correct results only for inputs that are absolute paths or relative paths without .
or ..
:
#!/bin/bash
# usage: relpath from to
if [[ \"$1\" == \"$2\" ]]
then
echo \".\"
exit
fi
IFS=\"/\"
current=($1)
absolute=($2)
abssize=${#absolute[@]}
cursize=${#current[@]}
while [[ ${absolute[level]} == ${current[level]} ]]
do
(( level++ ))
if (( level > abssize || level > cursize ))
then
break
fi
done
for ((i = level; i < cursize; i++))
do
if ((i > level))
then
newpath=$newpath\"/\"
fi
newpath=$newpath\"..\"
done
for ((i = level; i < abssize; i++))
do
if [[ -n $newpath ]]
then
newpath=$newpath\"/\"
fi
newpath=$newpath${absolute[i]}
done
echo \"$newpath\"
I would just use Perl for this not-so-trivial task:
absolute=\"/foo/bar\"
current=\"/foo/baz/foo\"
# Perl is magic
relative=$(perl -MFile::Spec -e \'print File::Spec->abs2rel(\"\'$absolute\'\",\"\'$current\'\")\')
A slight improvement on kasku\'s and Pini\'s answers, which plays nicer with spaces and allows passing relative paths:
#!/bin/bash
# both $1 and $2 are paths
# returns $2 relative to $1
absolute=`readlink -f \"$2\"`
current=`readlink -f \"$1\"`
# Perl is magic
# Quoting horror.... spaces cause problems, that\'s why we need the extra \" in here:
relative=$(perl -MFile::Spec -e \"print File::Spec->abs2rel(q($absolute),q($current))\")
echo $relative
Not a lot of the answers here are practical for every day use. Since it is very difficult to do this properly in pure bash, I suggest the following, reliable solution (similar to one suggestion buried in a comment):
function relpath() {
python -c \"import os,sys;print(os.path.relpath(*(sys.argv[1:])))\" \"$@\";
}
Then, you can get the relative path based upon the current directory:
echo $(relpath somepath)
or you can specify that the path be relative to a given directory:
echo $(relpath somepath /etc) # relative to /etc
The one disadvantage is this requires python, but:
Note that solutions which include basename
or dirname
may not necessarily be better, as they require that coreutils
be installed. If somebody has a pure bash
solution that is reliable and simple (rather than a convoluted curiosity), I\'d be surprised.
Sadly, Mark Rushakoff\'s answer (now deleted - it referenced the code from here) does not seem to work correctly when adapted to:
source=/home/part2/part3/part4
target=/work/proj1/proj2
The thinking outlined in the commentary can be refined to make it work correctly for most cases. I\'m about to assume that the script takes a source argument (where you are) and a target argument (where you want to get to), and that either both are absolute pathnames or both are relative. If one is absolute and the other relative, the easiest thing is to prefix the relative name with the current working directory - but the code below does not do that.
The code below is close to working correctly, but is not quite right.
xyz/./pqr
\'.xyz/../pqr
\'../
\' from paths.Dennis\'s code is better because it fixes 1 and 5 - but has the same issues 2, 3, 4. Use Dennis\'s code (and up-vote it ahead of this) because of that.
(NB: POSIX provides a system call realpath()
that resolves pathnames so that there are no symlinks left in them. Applying that to the input names, and then using Dennis\'s code would give the correct answer each time. It is trivial to write the C code that wraps realpath()
- I\'ve done it - but I don\'t know of a standard utility that does so.)
For this, I find Perl easier to use than shell, though bash has decent support for arrays and could probably do this too - exercise for the reader. So, given two compatible names, split them each into components:
Thus:
#!/bin/perl -w
use strict;
# Should fettle the arguments if one is absolute and one relative:
# Oops - missing functionality!
# Split!
my(@source) = split \'/\', $ARGV[0];
my(@target) = split \'/\', $ARGV[1];
my $count = scalar(@source);
$count = scalar(@target) if (scalar(@target) < $count);
my $relpath = \"\";
my $i;
for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++)
{
last if $source[$i] ne $target[$i];
}
$relpath = \".\" if ($i >= scalar(@source) && $relpath eq \"\");
for (my $s = $i; $s < scalar(@source); $s++)
{
$relpath = \"../$relpath\";
}
$relpath = \".\" if ($i >= scalar(@target) && $relpath eq \"\");
for (my $t = $i; $t < scalar(@target); $t++)
{
$relpath .= \"/$target[$t]\";
}
# Clean up result (remove double slash, trailing slash, trailing slash-dot).
$relpath =~ s%//%/%;
$relpath =~ s%/$%%;
$relpath =~ s%/\\.$%%;
print \"source = $ARGV[0]\\n\";
print \"target = $ARGV[1]\\n\";
print \"relpath = $relpath\\n\";
Test script (the square brackets contain a blank and a tab):
sed \'s/#.*//;/^[ ]*$/d\' <<! |
/home/part1/part2 /home/part1/part3
/home/part1/part2 /home/part4/part5
/home/part1/part2 /work/part6/part7
/home/part1 /work/part1/part2/part3/part4
/home /work/part2/part3
/ /work/part2/part3/part4
/home/part1/part2 /home/part1/part2/part3/part4
/home/part1/part2 /home/part1/part2/part3
/home/part1/part2 /home/part1/part2
/home/part1/part2 /home/part1
/home/part1/part2 /home
/home/part1/part2 /
/home/part1/part2 /work
/home/part1/part2 /work/part1
/home/part1/part2 /work/part1/part2
/home/part1/part2 /work/part1/part2/part3
/home/part1/part2 /work/part1/part2/part3/part4
home/part1/part2 home/part1/part3
home/part1/part2 home/part4/part5
home/part1/part2 work/part6/part7
home/part1 work/part1/part2/part3/part4
home work/part2/part3
. work/part2/part3
home/part1/part2 home/part1/part2/part3/part4
home/part1/part2 home/part1/part2/part3
home/part1/part2 home/part1/part2
home/part1/part2 home/part1
home/part1/part2 home
home/part1/part2 .
home/part1/part2 work
home/part1/part2 work/part1
home/part1/part2 work/part1/part2
home/part1/part2 work/part1/part2/part3
home/part1/part2 work/part1/part2/part3/part4
!
while read source target
do
perl relpath.pl $source $target
echo
done
Output from the test script:
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /home/part1/part3
relpath = ../part3
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /home/part4/part5
relpath = ../../part4/part5
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /work/part6/part7
relpath = ../../../work/part6/part7
source = /home/part1
target = /work/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath = ../../work/part1/part2/part3/part4
source = /home
target = /work/part2/part3
relpath = ../work/part2/part3
source = /
target = /work/part2/part3/part4
relpath = ./work/part2/part3/part4
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /home/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath = ./part3/part4
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /home/part1/part2/part3
relpath = ./part3
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /home/part1/part2
relpath = .
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /home/part1
relpath = ..
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /home
relpath = ../..
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /
relpath = ../../../..
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /work
relpath = ../../../work
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /work/part1
relpath = ../../../work/part1
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /work/part1/part2
relpath = ../../../work/part1/part2
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /work/part1/part2/part3
relpath = ../../../work/part1/part2/part3
source = /home/part1/part2
target = /work/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath = ../../../work/part1/part2/part3/part4
source = home/part1/part2
target = home/part1/part3
relpath = ../part3
source = home/part1/part2
target = home/part4/part5
relpath = ../../part4/part5
source = home/part1/part2
target = work/part6/part7
relpath = ../../../work/part6/part7
source = home/part1
target = work/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath = ../../work/part1/part2/part3/part4
source = home
target = work/part2/part3
relpath = ../work/part2/part3
source = .
target = work/part2/part3
relpath = ../work/part2/part3
source = home/part1/part2
target = home/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath = ./part3/part4
source = home/part1/part2
target = home/part1/part2/part3
relpath = ./part3
source = home/part1/part2
target = home/part1/part2
relpath = .
source = home/part1/part2
target = home/part1
relpath = ..
source = home/part1/part2
target = home
relpath = ../..
source = home/part1/part2
target = .
relpath = ../../..
source = home/part1/part2
target = work
relpath = ../../../work
source = home/part1/part2
target = work/part1
relpath = ../../../work/part1
source = home/part1/part2
target = work/part1/part2
relpath = ../../../work/part1/part2
source = home/part1/part2
target = work/part1/part2/part3
relpath = ../../../work/part1/part2/part3
source = home/part1/part2
target = work/part1/part2/part3/part4
relpath = ../../../work/part1/part2/part3/part4
This Perl script works fairly thoroughly on Unix (it does not take into account all the complexities of Windows path names) in the face of weird inputs. It uses the module Cwd
and its function realpath
to resolve the real path of names that exist, and does a textual analysis for paths that don\'t exist. In all cases except one, it produces the same output as Dennis\'s script. The deviant case is:
source = home/part1/part2
target = .
relpath1 = ../../..
relpath2 = ../../../.
The two results are equivalent - just not identical. (The output is from a mildly modified version of the test script - the Perl script below simply prints the answer, rather than the inputs and the answer as in the script above.) Now: should I eliminate the non-working answer? Maybe...
#!/bin/perl -w
# Based loosely on code from: http://unix.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/comp.unix.shell/2005-10/1256.html
# Via: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2564634
use strict;
die \"Usage: $0 from to\\n\" if scalar @ARGV != 2;
use Cwd qw(realpath getcwd);
my $pwd;
my $verbose = 0;
# Fettle filename so it is absolute.
# Deals with \'//\', \'/./\' and \'/../\' notations, plus symlinks.
# The realpath() function does the hard work if the path exists.
# For non-existent paths, the code does a purely textual hack.
sub resolve
{
my($name) = @_;
my($path) = realpath($name);
if (!defined $path)
{
# Path does not exist - do the best we can with lexical analysis
# Assume Unix - not dealing with Windows.
$path = $name;
if ($name !~ m%^/%)
{
$pwd = getcwd if !defined $pwd;
$path = \"$pwd/$path\";
}
$path =~ s%//+%/%g; # Not UNC paths.
$path =~ s%/$%%; # No trailing /
$path =~ s%/\\./%/%g; # No embedded /./
# Try to eliminate /../abc/
$path =~ s%/\\.\\./(?:[^/]+)(/|$)%$1%g;
$path =~ s%/\\.$%%; # No trailing /.
$path =~ s%^\\./%%; # No leading ./
# What happens with . and / as inputs?
}
return($path);
}
sub print_result
{
my($source, $target, $relpath) = @_;
if ($verbose)
{
print \"source = $ARGV[0]\\n\";
print \"target = $ARGV[1]\\n\";
print \"relpath = $relpath\\n\";
}
else
{
print \"$relpath\\n\";
}
exit 0;
}
my($source) = resolve($ARGV[0]);
my($target) = resolve($ARGV[1]);
print_result($source, $target, \".\") if ($source eq $target);
# Split!
my(@source) = split \'/\', $source;
my(@target) = split \'/\', $target;
my $count = scalar(@source);
$count = scalar(@target) if (scalar(@target) < $count);
my $relpath = \"\";
my $i;
# Both paths are absolute; Perl splits an empty field 0.
for ($i = 1; $i < $count; $i++)
{
last if $source[$i] ne $target[$i];
}
for (my $s = $i; $s < scalar(@source); $s++)
{
$relpath = \"$relpath/\" if ($s > $i);
$relpath = \"$relpath..\";
}
for (my $t = $i; $t < scalar(@target); $t++)
{
$relpath = \"$relpath/\" if ($relpath ne \"\");
$relpath = \"$relpath$target[$t]\";
}
print_result($source, $target, $relpath);
test.sh:
#!/bin/bash
cd /home/ubuntu
touch blah
TEST=/home/ubuntu/.//blah
echo TEST=$TEST
TMP=$(readlink -e \"$TEST\")
echo TMP=$TMP
REL=${TMP#$(pwd)/}
echo REL=$REL
Testing:
$ ./test.sh
TEST=/home/ubuntu/.//blah
TMP=/home/ubuntu/blah
REL=blah
I took your question as a challenge to write this in \"portable\" shell code, i.e.
It runs on any POSIX conformant shell (zsh, bash, ksh, ash, busybox, ...). It even contains a testsuite to verify its operation. Canonicalization of pathnames is left as an exercise. :-)
#!/bin/sh
# Find common parent directory path for a pair of paths.
# Call with two pathnames as args, e.g.
# commondirpart foo/bar foo/baz/bat -> result=\"foo/\"
# The result is either empty or ends with \"/\".
commondirpart () {
result=\"\"
while test ${#1} -gt 0 -a ${#2} -gt 0; do
if test \"${1%${1#?}}\" != \"${2%${2#?}}\"; then # First characters the same?
break # No, we\'re done comparing.
fi
result=\"$result${1%${1#?}}\" # Yes, append to result.
set -- \"${1#?}\" \"${2#?}\" # Chop first char off both strings.
done
case \"$result\" in
(\"\"|*/) ;;
(*) result=\"${result%/*}/\";;
esac
}
# Turn foo/bar/baz into ../../..
#
dir2dotdot () {
OLDIFS=\"$IFS\" IFS=\"/\" result=\"\"
for dir in $1; do
result=\"$result../\"
done
result=\"${result%/}\"
IFS=\"$OLDIFS\"
}
# Call with FROM TO args.
relativepath () {
case \"$1\" in
(*//*|*/./*|*/../*|*?/|*/.|*/..)
printf \'%s\\n\' \"\'$1\' not canonical\"; exit 1;;
(/*)
from=\"${1#?}\";;
(*)
printf \'%s\\n\' \"\'$1\' not absolute\"; exit 1;;
esac
case \"$2\" in
(*//*|*/./*|*/../*|*?/|*/.|*/..)
printf \'%s\\n\' \"\'$2\' not canonical\"; exit 1;;
(/*)
to=\"${2#?}\";;
(*)
printf \'%s\\n\' \"\'$2\' not absolute\"; exit 1;;
esac
case \"$to\" in
(\"$from\") # Identical directories.
result=\".\";;
(\"$from\"/*) # From /x to /x/foo/bar -> foo/bar
result=\"${to##$from/}\";;
(\"\") # From /foo/bar to / -> ../..
dir2dotdot \"$from\";;
(*)
case \"$from\" in
(\"$to\"/*) # From /x/foo/bar to /x -> ../..
dir2dotdot \"${from##$to/}\";;
(*) # Everything else.
commondirpart \"$from\" \"$to\"
common=\"$result\"
dir2dotdot \"${from#$common}\"
result=\"$result/${to#$common}\"
esac
;;
esac
}
set -f # noglob
set -x
cat <<EOF |
/ / .
/- /- .
/? /? .
/?? /?? .
/??? /??? .
/?* /?* .
/* /* .
/* /** ../**
/* /*** ../***
/*.* /*.** ../*.**
/*.??? /*.?? ../*.??
/[] /[] .
/[a-z]* /[0-9]* ../[0-9]*
/foo /foo .
/foo / ..
/foo/bar / ../..
/foo/bar /foo ..
/foo/bar /foo/baz ../baz
/foo/bar /bar/foo ../../bar/foo
/foo/bar/baz /gnarf/blurfl/blubb ../../../gnarf/blurfl/blubb
/foo/bar/baz /gnarf ../../../gnarf
/foo/bar/baz /foo/baz ../../baz
/foo. /bar. ../bar.
EOF
while read FROM TO VIA; do
relativepath \"$FROM\" \"$TO\"
printf \'%s\\n\' \"FROM: $FROM\" \"TO: $TO\" \"VIA: $result\"
if test \"$result\" != \"$VIA\"; then
printf \'%s\\n\' \"OOOPS! Expected \'$VIA\' but got \'$result\'\"
fi
done
# vi: set tabstop=3 shiftwidth=3 expandtab fileformat=unix :
My Solution:
computeRelativePath()
{
Source=$(readlink -f ${1})
Target=$(readlink -f ${2})
local OLDIFS=$IFS
IFS=\"/\"
local SourceDirectoryArray=($Source)
local TargetDirectoryArray=($Target)
local SourceArrayLength=$(echo ${SourceDirectoryArray[@]} | wc -w)
local TargetArrayLength=$(echo ${TargetDirectoryArray[@]} | wc -w)
local Length
test $SourceArrayLength -gt $TargetArrayLength && Length=$SourceArrayLength || Length=$TargetArrayLength
local Result=\"\"
local AppendToEnd=\"\"
IFS=$OLDIFS
local i
for ((i = 0; i <= $Length + 1 ; i++ ))
do
if [ \"${SourceDirectoryArray[$i]}\" = \"${TargetDirectoryArray[$i]}\" ]
then
continue
elif [ \"${SourceDirectoryArray[$i]}\" != \"\" ] && [ \"${TargetDirectoryArray[$i]}\" != \"\" ]
then
AppendToEnd=\"${AppendToEnd}${TargetDirectoryArray[${i}]}/\"
Result=\"${Result}../\"
elif [ \"${SourceDirectoryArray[$i]}\" = \"\" ]
then
Result=\"${Result}${TargetDirectoryArray[${i}]}/\"
else
Result=\"${Result}../\"
fi
done
Result=\"${Result}${AppendToEnd}\"
echo $Result
}
Here is my version. It\'s based on the answer by @Offirmo. I made it Dash-compatible and fixed the following testcase failure:
./compute-relative.sh \"/a/b/c/de/f/g\" \"/a/b/c/def/g/\"
--> \"../..f/g/\"
Now:
CT_FindRelativePath \"/a/b/c/de/f/g\" \"/a/b/c/def/g/\"
--> \"../../../def/g/\"
See the code:
# both $1 and $2 are absolute paths beginning with /
# returns relative path to $2/$target from $1/$source
CT_FindRelativePath()
{
local insource=$1
local intarget=$2
# Ensure both source and target end with /
# This simplifies the inner loop.
#echo \"insource : \\\"$insource\\\"\"
#echo \"intarget : \\\"$intarget\\\"\"
case \"$insource\" in
*/) ;;
*) source=\"$insource\"/ ;;
esac
case \"$intarget\" in
*/) ;;
*) target=\"$intarget\"/ ;;
esac
#echo \"source : \\\"$source\\\"\"
#echo \"target : \\\"$target\\\"\"
local common_part=$source # for now
local result=\"\"
#echo \"common_part is now : \\\"$common_part\\\"\"
#echo \"result is now : \\\"$result\\\"\"
#echo \"target#common_part : \\\"${target#$common_part}\\\"\"
while [ \"${target#$common_part}\" = \"${target}\" -a \"${common_part}\" != \"//\" ]; do
# no match, means that candidate common part is not correct
# go up one level (reduce common part)
common_part=$(dirname \"$common_part\")/
# and record that we went back
if [ -z \"${result}\" ]; then
result=\"../\"
else
result=\"../$result\"
fi
#echo \"(w) common_part is now : \\\"$common_part\\\"\"
#echo \"(w) result is now : \\\"$result\\\"\"
#echo \"(w) target#common_part : \\\"${target#$common_part}\\\"\"
done
#echo \"(f) common_part is : \\\"$common_part\\\"\"
if [ \"${common_part}\" = \"//\" ]; then
# special case for root (no common path)
common_part=\"/\"
fi
# since we now have identified the common part,
# compute the non-common part
forward_part=\"${target#$common_part}\"
#echo \"forward_part = \\\"$forward_part\\\"\"
if [ -n \"${result}\" -a -n \"${forward_part}\" ]; then
#echo \"(simple concat)\"
result=\"$result$forward_part\"
elif [ -n \"${forward_part}\" ]; then
result=\"$forward_part\"
fi
#echo \"result = \\\"$result\\\"\"
# if a / was added to target and result ends in / then remove it now.
if [ \"$intarget\" != \"$target\" ]; then
case \"$result\" in
*/) result=$(echo \"$result\" | awk \'{ string=substr($0, 1, length($0)-1); print string; }\' ) ;;
esac
fi
echo $result
return 0
}
Guess this one shall do the trick too... (comes with built-in tests) :)
OK, some overhead expected, but we\'re doing Bourne shell here! ;)
#!/bin/sh
#
# Finding the relative path to a certain file ($2), given the absolute path ($1)
# (available here too http://pastebin.com/tWWqA8aB)
#
relpath () {
local FROM=\"$1\"
local TO=\"`dirname $2`\"
local FILE=\"`basename $2`\"
local DEBUG=\"$3\"
local FROMREL=\"\"
local FROMUP=\"$FROM\"
while [ \"$FROMUP\" != \"/\" ]; do
local TOUP=\"$TO\"
local TOREL=\"\"
while [ \"$TOUP\" != \"/\" ]; do
[ -z \"$DEBUG\" ] || echo 1>&2 \"$DEBUG$FROMUP =?= $TOUP\"
if [ \"$FROMUP\" = \"$TOUP\" ]; then
echo \"${FROMREL:-.}/$TOREL${TOREL:+/}$FILE\"
return 0
fi
TOREL=\"`basename $TOUP`${TOREL:+/}$TOREL\"
TOUP=\"`dirname $TOUP`\"
done
FROMREL=\"..${FROMREL:+/}$FROMREL\"
FROMUP=\"`dirname $FROMUP`\"
done
echo \"${FROMREL:-.}${TOREL:+/}$TOREL/$FILE\"
return 0
}
relpathshow () {
echo \" - target $2\"
echo \" from $1\"
echo \" ------\"
echo \" => `relpath $1 $2 \' \'`\"
echo \"\"
}
# If given 2 arguments, do as said...
if [ -n \"$2\" ]; then
relpath $1 $2
# If only one given, then assume current directory
elif [ -n \"$1\" ]; then
relpath `pwd` $1
# Otherwise perform a set of built-in tests to confirm the validity of the method! ;)
else
relpathshow /usr/share/emacs22/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el \\
/usr/share/emacs22/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el/filladapt.el
relpathshow /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el \\
/usr/share/emacs22/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el/filladapt.el
relpathshow /usr/bin \\
/usr/share/emacs22/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el/filladapt.el
relpathshow /usr/bin \\
/usr/share/emacs22/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el/filladapt.el
relpathshow /usr/bin/share/emacs22/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el \\
/etc/motd
relpathshow / \\
/initrd.img
fi
This script works only on the path names. It does not require any of the files to exist. If the paths passed are not absolute, the behavior is a bit unusual, but it should work as expected if both paths are relative.
I only tested it on OS X, so it might not be portable.
#!/bin/bash
set -e
declare SCRIPT_NAME=\"$(basename $0)\"
function usage {
echo \"Usage: $SCRIPT_NAME <base path> <target file>\"
echo \" Outputs <target file> relative to <base path>\"
exit 1
}
if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then usage; fi
declare base=$1
declare target=$2
declare -a base_part=()
declare -a target_part=()
#Split path elements & canonicalize
OFS=\"$IFS\"; IFS=\'/\'
bpl=0;
for bp in $base; do
case \"$bp\" in
\".\");;
\"..\") let \"bpl=$bpl-1\" ;;
*) base_part[${bpl}]=\"$bp\" ; let \"bpl=$bpl+1\";;
esac
done
tpl=0;
for tp in $target; do
case \"$tp\" in
\".\");;
\"..\") let \"tpl=$tpl-1\" ;;
*) target_part[${tpl}]=\"$tp\" ; let \"tpl=$tpl+1\";;
esac
done
IFS=\"$OFS\"
#Count common prefix
common=0
for (( i=0 ; i<$bpl ; i++ )); do
if [ \"${base_part[$i]}\" = \"${target_part[$common]}\" ] ; then
let \"common=$common+1\"
else
break
fi
done
#Compute number of directories up
let \"updir=$bpl-$common\" || updir=0 #if the expression is zero, \'let\' fails
#trivial case (after canonical decomposition)
if [ $updir -eq 0 ]; then
echo .
exit
fi
#Print updirs
for (( i=0 ; i<$updir ; i++ )); do
echo -n ../
done
#Print remaining path
for (( i=$common ; i<$tpl ; i++ )); do
if [ $i -ne $common ]; then
echo -n \"/\"
fi
if [ \"\" != \"${target_part[$i]}\" ] ; then
echo -n \"${target_part[$i]}\"
fi
done
#One last newline
echo
This answer does not address the Bash part of the question, but because I tried to use the answers in this question to implement this functionality in Emacs I\'ll throw it out there.
Emacs actually has a function for this out of the box:
ELISP> (file-relative-name \"/a/b/c\" \"/a/b/c\")
\".\"
ELISP> (file-relative-name \"/a/b/c\" \"/a/b\")
\"c\"
ELISP> (file-relative-name \"/a/b/c\" \"/c/b\")
\"../../a/b/c\"
Yet another solution, pure bash
+ GNU readlink
for easy use in following context:
ln -s \"$(relpath \"$A\" \"$B\")\" \"$B\"
Edit: Make sure that \"$B\" is either not existing or no softlink in that case, else
relpath
follows this link which is not what you want!
This works in nearly all current Linux. If readlink -m
does not work at your side, try readlink -f
instead. See also https://gist.github.com/hilbix/1ec361d00a8178ae8ea0 for possible updates:
: relpath A B
# Calculate relative path from A to B, returns true on success
# Example: ln -s \"$(relpath \"$A\" \"$B\")\" \"$B\"
relpath()
{
local X Y A
# We can create dangling softlinks
X=\"$(readlink -m -- \"$1\")\" || return
Y=\"$(readlink -m -- \"$2\")\" || return
X=\"${X%/}/\"
A=\"\"
while Y=\"${Y%/*}\"
[ \".${X#\"$Y\"/}\" = \".$X\" ]
do
A=\"../$A\"
done
X=\"$A${X#\"$Y\"/}\"
X=\"${X%/}\"
echo \"${X:-.}\"
}
Notes:
*
or ?
.ln -s
:
relpath / /
gives .
and not the empty stringrelpath a a
gives a
, even if a
happens to be a directoryreadlink
is required to canonicalize paths.readlink -m
it works for not yet existing paths, too.On old systems, where readlink -m
is not available, readlink -f
fails if the file does not exist. So you probably need some workaround like this (untested!):
readlink_missing()
{
readlink -m -- \"$1\" && return
readlink -f -- \"$1\" && return
[ -e . ] && echo \"$(readlink_missing \"$(dirname \"$1\")\")/$(basename \"$1\")\"
}
This is not really quite correct in case $1
includes .
or ..
for nonexisting paths (like in /doesnotexist/./a
), but it should cover most cases.
(Replace readlink -m --
above by readlink_missing
.)
Here is a test, that this function, indeed, is correct:
check()
{
res=\"$(relpath \"$2\" \"$1\")\"
[ \".$res\" = \".$3\" ] && return
printf \':WRONG: %-10q %-10q gives %q\\nCORRECT %-10q %-10q gives %q\\n\' \"$1\" \"$2\" \"$res\" \"$@\"
}
# TARGET SOURCE RESULT
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A\" \"..\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A.x\" \"../../A.x\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B\" \".\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/C\" \"C\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/C/D\" \"C/D\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/C/D/E\" \"C/D/E\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/D\" \"D\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/D/E\" \"D/E\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/D\" \"../D\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/D/E\" \"../D/E\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/D/E/F\" \"../../D/E/F\"
check \"/foo/baz/moo\" \"/foo/bar\" \"../bar\"
Puzzled? Well, these are the correct results! Even if you think it does not fit the question, here is the proof this is correct:
check \"http://example.com/foo/baz/moo\" \"http://example.com/foo/bar\" \"../bar\"
Without any doubt, ../bar
is the exact and only correct relative path of the page bar
seen from the page moo
. Everything else would be plain wrong.
It is trivial to adopt the output to the question which apparently assumes, that current
is a directory:
absolute=\"/foo/bar\"
current=\"/foo/baz/foo\"
relative=\"../$(relpath \"$absolute\" \"$current\")\"
This returns exactly, what was asked for.
And before you raise an eyebrow, here is a bit more complex variant of relpath
(spot the small difference), which should work for URL-Syntax, too (so a trailing /
survives, thanks to some bash
-magic):
# Calculate relative PATH to the given DEST from the given BASE
# In the URL case, both URLs must be absolute and have the same Scheme.
# The `SCHEME:` must not be present in the FS either.
# This way this routine works for file paths an
: relpathurl DEST BASE
relpathurl()
{
local X Y A
# We can create dangling softlinks
X=\"$(readlink -m -- \"$1\")\" || return
Y=\"$(readlink -m -- \"$2\")\" || return
X=\"${X%/}/${1#\"${1%/}\"}\"
Y=\"${Y%/}${2#\"${2%/}\"}\"
A=\"\"
while Y=\"${Y%/*}\"
[ \".${X#\"$Y\"/}\" = \".$X\" ]
do
A=\"../$A\"
done
X=\"$A${X#\"$Y\"/}\"
X=\"${X%/}\"
echo \"${X:-.}\"
}
And here are the checks just to make clear: It really works as told.
check()
{
res=\"$(relpathurl \"$2\" \"$1\")\"
[ \".$res\" = \".$3\" ] && return
printf \':WRONG: %-10q %-10q gives %q\\nCORRECT %-10q %-10q gives %q\\n\' \"$1\" \"$2\" \"$res\" \"$@\"
}
# TARGET SOURCE RESULT
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A\" \"..\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A.x\" \"../../A.x\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B\" \".\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/C\" \"C\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/C/D\" \"C/D\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/C/D/E\" \"C/D/E\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/D\" \"D\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/B/D/E\" \"D/E\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/D\" \"../D\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/A/D/E\" \"../D/E\"
check \"/A/B/C\" \"/D/E/F\" \"../../D/E/F\"
check \"/foo/baz/moo\" \"/foo/bar\" \"../bar\"
check \"http://example.com/foo/baz/moo\" \"http://example.com/foo/bar\" \"../bar\"
check \"http://example.com/foo/baz/moo/\" \"http://example.com/foo/bar\" \"../../bar\"
check \"http://example.com/foo/baz/moo\" \"http://example.com/foo/bar/\" \"../bar/\"
check \"http://example.com/foo/baz/moo/\" \"http://example.com/foo/bar/\" \"../../bar/\"
And here is how this can be used to give the wanted result from the question:
absolute=\"/foo/bar\"
current=\"/foo/baz/foo\"
relative=\"$(relpathurl \"$absolute\" \"$current/\")\"
echo \"$relative\"
If you find something which does not work, please let me know in the comments below. Thanks.
PS:
Why are the arguments of relpath
\"reversed\" in contrast to all the other answers here?
If you change
Y=\"$(readlink -m -- \"$2\")\" || return
to
Y=\"$(readlink -m -- \"${2:-\"$PWD\"}\")\" || return
then you can leave the 2nd parameter away, such that the BASE is the current directory/URL/whatever. That\'s only the Unix principle, as usual.
If you dislike that, please go back to Windows. Thanks.
Here\'s a shell script that does it without calling other programs:
#! /bin/env bash
#bash script to find the relative path between two directories
mydir=${0%/}
mydir=${0%/*}
creadlink=\"$mydir/creadlink\"
shopt -s extglob
relpath_ () {
path1=$(\"$creadlink\" \"$1\")
path2=$(\"$creadlink\" \"$2\")
orig1=$path1
path1=${path1%/}/
path2=${path2%/}/
while :; do
if test ! \"$path1\"; then
break
fi
part1=${path2#$path1}
if test \"${part1#/}\" = \"$part1\"; then
path1=${path1%/*}
continue
fi
if test \"${path2#$path1}\" = \"$path2\"; then
path1=${path1%/*}
continue
fi
break
done
part1=$path1
path1=${orig1#$part1}
depth=${path1//+([^\\/])/..}
path1=${path2#$path1}
path1=${depth}${path2#$part1}
path1=${path1##+(\\/)}
path1=${path1%/}
if test ! \"$path1\"; then
path1=.
fi
printf \"$path1\"
}
relpath_test () {
res=$(relpath_ /path1/to/dir1 /path1/to/dir2 )
expected=\'../dir2\'
test_results \"$res\" \"$expected\"
res=$(relpath_ / /path1/to/dir2 )
expected=\'path1/to/dir2\'
test_results \"$res\" \"$expected\"
res=$(relpath_ /path1/to/dir2 / )
expected=\'../../..\'
test_results \"$res\" \"$expected\"
res=$(relpath_ / / )
expected=\'.\'
test_results \"$res\" \"$expected\"
res=$(relpath_ /path/to/dir2/dir3 /path/to/dir1/dir4/dir4a )
expected=\'../../dir1/dir4/dir4a\'
test_results \"$res\" \"$expected\"
res=$(relpath_ /path/to/dir1/dir4/dir4a /path/to/dir2/dir3 )
expected=\'../../../dir2/dir3\'
test_results \"$res\" \"$expected\"
#res=$(relpath_ . /path/to/dir2/dir3 )
#expected=\'../../../dir2/dir3\'
#test_results \"$res\" \"$expected\"
}
test_results () {
if test ! \"$1\" = \"$2\"; then
printf \'failed!\\nresult:\\nX%sX\\nexpected:\\nX%sX\\n\\n\' \"$@\"
fi
}
#relpath_test
source: http://www.ynform.org/w/Pub/Relpath
I needed something like this but which resolved symbolic links too. I discovered that pwd has a -P flag for that purpose. A fragment of my script is appended. It\'s within a function in a shell script, hence the $1 and $2. The result value, which is the relative path from START_ABS to END_ABS, is in the UPDIRS variable. The script cd\'s into each parameter directory in order to execute the pwd -P and this also means that relative path parameters are handled. Cheers, Jim
SAVE_DIR=\"$PWD\"
cd \"$1\"
START_ABS=`pwd -P`
cd \"$SAVE_DIR\"
cd \"$2\"
END_ABS=`pwd -P`
START_WORK=\"$START_ABS\"
UPDIRS=\"\"
while test -n \"${START_WORK}\" -a \"${END_ABS/#${START_WORK}}\" \'==\' \"$END_ABS\";
do
START_WORK=`dirname \"$START_WORK\"`\"/\"
UPDIRS=${UPDIRS}\"../\"
done
UPDIRS=\"$UPDIRS${END_ABS/#${START_WORK}}\"
cd \"$SAVE_DIR\"