cp command won't run if executed from shell script

Question

i have very simple shell script

#!/bin/bash    
cp -rf /var/www/ksite/app2/* /var/www/ksite/app
echo "----"
echo "done"

but seems cp command fails

if i execute

cp -rf /var/www/ksite/app2/* /var/www/ksite/app

from terminal everything work ok. Can someone tell me how to include cp in shell script?

Thanks

Do you have any errors in script? Why you are thinking cp fails? — rush
– rush, Commented Jul 4, 2012 at 12:07
cp command fails in what way? What is the error message? Most likely it is a $PATH problem. — cdarke
– cdarke, Commented Jul 4, 2012 at 12:08
Just covering all the bases .. do the permissions vary between the excutions .. i.e. do you execute one with sudo/root privileges, the other as user (unlikely, but thought I'd ask since we don't know what the exact error is) — Levon
– Levon, Commented Jul 4, 2012 at 12:11
@cdarke Not sure how the $PATH could be involved here .. certainly cp is on the path, no? — Levon
– Levon, Commented Jul 4, 2012 at 12:14

cdarke · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-04 13:06:14Z

7

We seem to have doubt as to how this script fails. If there is no error message then this is a strange one. I suggest:

On the command line (which works), do a which cp
Whatever the reply, then copy that and use it as the cp in the script (e.g. /bin/cp)
Check the widcard expansion, run your script with bash -x script-name and see if you get what you expect.
echo $? after the copy in the script - if it is zero then it (thinks it) worked.
Do a ls -ld /var/www/ksite/app from your script, maybe someone set a symbolic link?
If it still fails, source the script from the command-line and see if that works . script-name
Double check that the copy did actually fail! (maybe that should be step 1.)

edited Jul 4, 2012 at 13:06

answered Jul 4, 2012 at 13:00

cdarke

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5 Comments

Kupe3 Over a year ago

i tried with bash -x script-name and it worked, so i concluded that script works if called from terminal. Previously i was testing the script called from php file using '$output = shell_exec('bash /var/www/test/b.sh'); echo $output'; Why it is failing when used from php?

hardmath Over a year ago

File permissions? Presumably PHP is running as a different user.

Kupe3 Over a year ago

/bin/bash, /bin/cp and my .sh script are all set to 0755, so anyone can run these

cdarke Over a year ago

AH HA! bash -x script-name worked you say? Maybe your #! line is wrong, see @unwind's answer above. Maybe your bash script is not running from PHP? PHP programs sometimes run in a weird environment (for security), are you picking up a restricted shell? By the way, it might have helped if you had mentioned PHP from the outset.

Kupe3 Over a year ago

i found the problem. missing permission on the destination folder. so cp coundnt create files/folders and failed to execute. from terminal everything was ok as that user had permissions to create files in destination folder.

Vladimir · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-06 16:15:57Z

3

I had similar problem. What helped me:

I used windows and putty to write script, so I had \r\n at the end of lines. Be sure, you have only \n symbol.
I copied files and the only way it worked for me at script was cp <source_dir>/fileName <dest_dir>/fileName whereas at command line cp <source_dir>/fileName <dest_dir> worked well too.

answered Mar 6, 2014 at 16:15

Vladimir

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Comments

unwind · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-04 12:16:22Z

2

Make sure you really have bash at /bin/bash. I think a batter hash bang is:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

This uses the env command to locate the bash binary and set the environment.

answered Jul 4, 2012 at 12:16

unwind

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1 Comment

Kupe3 Over a year ago

please see my comment above. script works ok. it is just cp command that doesn't anything (not copying files/folders and not showing any errors). The strange bit is that if i run the same in the terminal it works ok. I used absolute path intentionally.

DidNotSkipMindDay · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-21 07:22:49Z

1

Similar issue to Vladmir where the script was created in Windows. I created a new file "my_bash_script.sh" in the linux environment using VIM, then read the contents of my script into the file:

:r file_made_in_windows.sh

Then I saved, closed, then set the file as executable:

chmod 744 my_bash_script.sh

From there, I ran the script:

./my_bash_script.sh

...and it worked. What a weird issue. I was confounded for a moment.

answered Jun 21, 2021 at 7:22

DidNotSkipMindDay

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Comments

Levon · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-04 14:52:15Z

0

Just covering all the bases .. do the permissions vary between the excutions .. i.e. do you execute one with sudo/root privileges, the other as user (unlikely, but thought I'd ask since we don't know what the exact error is)

answered Jul 4, 2012 at 14:52

Levon

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1 Comment

Levon Over a year ago

@Kupe3 I brought up the permission issue 2 hours ago in a comment :)

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