Bash scripting checking content of a variable containing a directory path

Question

I am trying to write a simple bash script on Ubuntu 12.10 which stores the result of the pwd command in a variable and then checks the value of that variable in an if command to see if it matches a particular string. But I keep getting an error because it treats the content of that variable as a directory itself and keeps giving the error "No such file or directory"

The program is as below:

myvar=$(pwd)
if [$myvar -eq /home/vicky] #fails this check as variable myvar contains /home/vicky
then
    echo correct
else
    echo incorrect
fi

Any help would be appreciated

Are you aware that saying $(pwd) or $PWD would return you the directory from where you are executing the script and not the directory where the script is located? — devnull
– devnull, Commented Sep 18, 2013 at 7:10
Yeah. this example is just for practice. To see how I can return the output of a command in a variable and then do some conditional programming. — Vikram Chakrabarty
– Vikram Chakrabarty, Commented Sep 18, 2013 at 8:25

konsolebox · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-18 06:47:17Z

1

The proper form for that is

myvar=$(pwd)
if [ "$myvar" = /home/vicky ]  ## Need spaces and use `=`.

And since you're in bash, you don't need to use pwd. Just use $PWD. And also, it's preferrable to use [[ ]] since variables are not just to word splitting and pathname expansion when in it.

myvar=$PWD
if [[ $myvar == /home/vicky ]]

Or simply

if [[ $PWD == /home/vicky ]]

answered Sep 18, 2013 at 6:47

konsolebox

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