getting pwd of the script

[Dongalor]

Hello,

I've a script that is launched with a soft link. Inside the script, I need to know where is the script, and I'm using the following :

SH_DIR = $(cd $(dirname "$0"); pwd)

But SH_DIR contains the path of the soft link

i.e, I've the soft link like this :

Deb:~# ls -l /etc/rc2.d/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  27 2002-01-01 01:03 S99launch -> /usr/local/soft/bin/doit.sh

Inside doit.sh, SH_DIR contains /etc/rc2.d/ but I need /usr/local/soft/bin

Any ideas?

thanks!

[griswolf]

That was kinda fun. There are two things to know:

1. $BASH_SOURCE is the path to the currently executing script, as it was invoked; regardless of whether the script is executed or sourced. (actually the value is in ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} but the zero'th element of a bash array is available as the value of the variable itself) This is better than using $0.
2. If the shell utility readlink gives you back the target of a symbolic link.

I was reminded of BASH_SOURCE by reading about the same question at Stack Overflow. Unfortunately, the script there didn't work for me, so I rolled my own: Here's a script that calculates and prints the directory where the ultimate target of a (chain of) symbolic link(s)

#!/bin/bash
_script_dir=$(dirname "$BASH_SOURCE")
_script=$(basename "$BASH_SOURCE")
pushd . > /dev/null
cd $_script_dir > /dev/null
while [ -h "$_script" ] ; do
  _script_dir=$(readlink "${_script}")
  cd $(dirname $_script_dir)
  _script=$(basename $_script_dir)
done
_script_dir=$(pwd)
popd > /dev/null
echo "I am located in $_script_dir"

Enjoy!

[cfajohnson]

If you need to know where the script is, there is something wrong with your algorithm. Scripts should be in a directory in your PATH, and you should never need to know where it is.

[griswolf]

If you need to know where the script is, there is something wrong with your algorithm. Scripts should be in a directory in your PATH, and you should never need to know where it is.

It is easy to make a general statement that is generally true... but much harder to make a general statement that is always true. I believe your statement is in the first category: I've needed to know 'where am i' when writing scripts more than once, though not usually.