Bash: Command not found inside for loop

Question

I'm trying to iterate through a list of folder names, and perform some operations on the name, but whatever I try to do inside the while loop, results in a "Command not found".

For example, the following code:

#!/bin/bash

C=$(echo "ABCDEF" | cut -c1)
R=$(echo "ABCDEF" | sed "s/A/X/g")
echo $C
echo $R

for PATH in $(find . -maxdepth 1 -type d); do
        C=$(echo $PATH | cut -c1)
        R=$(echo $PATH | sed "s/A/X/g")
        echo $C
done

Outputs:

A
XBCDEF
line 9: cut: command not found
line 10: sed: command not found

PaulProgrammer · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-13 21:31:00Z

6

PATH is a special variable that tells the shell where to find common utilities. For instance, sed and cut are usually in /bin and $PATH usually includes /bin.

So, in your for loop, you've redefined $PATH to be the result of your find operation. You'll have better luck if you use a variable name other than PATH.

answered Oct 13, 2018 at 21:31

PaulProgrammer

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1 Comment

glenn jackman Over a year ago

best practice is to use lowercase variable names for exactly this reason.

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