Accept both relative and absolute paths in a bash script

Question

I would like to make a bash script that accepts both relative and absolute paths. It would be easy to filter with the first character, but I wonder if there is a more elegant way.

Your question is a bit vague. How, when, where do you want to take input that may be relative or absolute? The reason being, it matters whether you can test for file existence. (e.g. [ -f "$var" ]) If you are talking about positional parameters, then you can test existence and then use readlink -f or realpath as suggested by jam. If however, you are not in a context where the test for existence will be true, then neither will help. — David C. Rankin
– David C. Rankin, Commented Oct 12, 2015 at 8:44

jam · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-12 08:20:23Z

2

You could do a conversion to absolute path for everything passed in using readlink?

e.g. say you're in /home/foo, which contains a folder 'bar':

readlink -f bar -> /home/foo/bar

readlink -f /home/foo/bar -> /home/foo/bar

answered Oct 12, 2015 at 8:20

jam

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Labo Over a year ago

Thank you a lot, I did not knew that usage of readlink (neither realpath) !!! (I upvoted you answer but have not enough reputation for it to become visible)

Labo · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-12 11:29:14Z

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Using readlink -f or realpath fits perfectly my needs !

answered Oct 12, 2015 at 11:29

Labo

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