Copy file in bash script

Question

I have a bash script that looking at folder and copy files from one folder to another. The scripts is big enough, but here is just a two lines from it:

echo cp $working_directory/$folder_name/$f $new_filename
# cp $working_directory/$folder_name/$f $new_filename

Here is output of echo command:

cp ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres/a.pdf ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres_1.pdf
cp ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres/b.pdf ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres_2.pdf

I can launch any of this command and it works fine in the terminal.
But if I uncomment the real copy command and launch the script I will get the error:

cp ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres/a.pdf ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres_1.pdf
cp: ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres/a.pdf: No such file or directory
cp ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres/b.pdf ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres_2.pdf
cp: ~/MEGAsync/development/experiments/bash_renamer/tres/b.pdf: No such file or directory

Why I have this error and how can I fix it ?

In this case all works fine. But why it doesn't work with '~' ? — ceth
– ceth, Commented Jul 25, 2014 at 19:00
Most likely because you quoted ~, and tilde expansion doesn't happen in quotes. If you did working_directory=~/ or just ~/$folder_name/$f it should work. Also, unrelated to the problem, but you really should be quoting your variables to prevent word splitting issues in the future. — Reinstate Monica Please
– Reinstate Monica Please, Commented Jul 25, 2014 at 19:07
Its how bash interprets ~ sign. The same should work fine in c shell which I use it a lot. — dganesh2002
– dganesh2002, Commented Jul 25, 2014 at 19:26

Arusekk · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-25 18:59:43Z

3

I think that the problem is with the ~ sign. If the echo prints it as it is, it means, that it looks for directory with name ~ in the working dir. You can replace ~ with $HOME or try to execute the command some different way.

answered Jul 25, 2014 at 18:59

Arusekk

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jimm-cl · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-25 19:43:02Z

2

This is not working because, most likely, in your $working_directory variable definition you have the tilde ~ quoted, thus the tilde expansion in bash is not working.

Tilde Expansion

If a word begins with an unquoted tilde character (‘~’), all of the characters up to the first unquoted slash (or all characters, if there is no unquoted slash) are considered a tilde-prefix. If none of the characters in the tilde-prefix are quoted, the characters in the tilde-prefix following the tilde are treated as a possible login name.
~ 
The value of $HOME

~/foo 
$HOME/foo

edited Jul 25, 2014 at 19:43

answered Jul 25, 2014 at 19:17

jimm-cl

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CoderDake · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-25 19:01:17Z

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It looks like the tilde ~ that is part of the variable is not being expanded. Maybe try doing this first?:

eval working_directory=$working_directory

answered Jul 25, 2014 at 19:01

CoderDake

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2 Comments

Reinstate Monica Please Over a year ago

Getting in to the habit of using evil, especially when equally simple solutions exist, is likely to cause security holes in the future.

CoderDake Over a year ago

I'm guessing that typo was intentional?

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