Check if passed argument is file or directory in Bash

Question

I m trying to write an extremely simple script in Ubuntu which would allow me to pass it either a filename or a directory  and be able to do something specific when it s a file  and something else when it s a directory   The problem I m having is when the directory name  or probably files too  has spaces or other escapable characters are in the name   Here s my basic code down below  and a couple tests      bin bash  PASSED  1  if   -d    PASSED       then     echo   PASSED is a directory   else     if   -f    PASSED      then         echo    PASSED  is a file       else         echo    PASSED  is not valid           exit 1     fi fi   And here s the output   andy server      scripts testmove sh  home andy   home andy  is a directory  andy server      scripts testmove sh  home andy blah txt  home andy blah txt is a file  andy server      scripts testmove sh  home andy blah  with  a  space txt  home andy blah with a space txt is not valid  andy server      scripts testmove sh  home andy  with  a  space   home andy with a space  is not valid   All of those paths are valid  and exist

User · Answer

At least write the code without the bushy tree:

#!/bin/bash

PASSED=$1

if   [ -d "${PASSED}" ]
then echo "${PASSED} is a directory";
elif [ -f "${PASSED}" ]
then echo "${PASSED} is a file";
else echo "${PASSED} is not valid";
     exit 1
fi

When I put that into a file "xx.sh" and create a file "xx sh", and run it, I get:

$ cp /dev/null "xx sh"
$ for file in . xx*; do sh "$file"; done
. is a directory
xx sh is a file
xx.sh is a file
$

Given that you are having problems, you should debug the script by adding:

ls -l "${PASSED}"

This will show you what ls thinks about the names you pass the script.

User · Answer

function check file path          -f   1     amp  amp  return       -d   1     amp  amp  return     return 1   check file path  path or file

User · Answer

That should work  I am not sure why it s failing  You re quoting your variables properly  What happens if you use this script with double         if    -d  PASSED     then     echo   PASSED is a directory  elif    -f  PASSED     then     echo   PASSED is a file  else     echo   PASSED is not valid      exit 1 fi   Double square brackets is a bash extension to      It doesn t require variables to be quoted  not even if they contain spaces   Also worth trying  -e to test if a path exists without testing what type of file it is

User · Answer

This should work     bin bash  echo  quot Enter your Path  quot  read a  if    -d  a     then      echo  quot  a is a Dir quot   elif    -f  a     then      echo  quot  a is the File quot   else      echo  quot Invalid path quot   fi

User · Answer

A more elegant solution  echo  Enter the file name  read x if   -f  x   then     echo  This is a regular file  else     echo  This is a directory  fi

User · Answer

Using the  file  command may be useful for this      bin bash check file     if   -z    1      then  echo  Please input something   return  fi  f    1   result    file  f   if     result      cannot open       then         echo  NO FILE FOUND   result     elif     result      directory       then         echo  DIRECTORY FOUND   result     else         echo  FILE FOUND   result     fi     check file    1     Output examples        f bash login DIRECTORY FOUND  login  directory       f bash ldasdas NO FILE FOUND  ldasdas  cannot open  ldasdas   No such file or  directory        f bash evil php  FILE FOUND  evil php  PHP script  ASCII text     FYI  the answers above work but you can use -s to help in weird situations by checking for a valid file first      bin bash  check file        local file    1          -s    file           echo  is not valid   return            -d    file       amp  amp    echo  is a directory   return           -f    file       amp  amp    echo  is a file   return       check file   1

User · Answer

One liner  touch bob  test -d bob  amp  amp  echo  dir      test -f bob  amp  amp  echo  file     result is true  0  dir  or true  0  file  or false  1  neither

User · Answer

Using -f and -d switches on  bin test   F NAME    1    if test -f    F NAME   then                                       echo    F NAME  is a file  elif test -d    F NAME   then    echo    F NAME  is a directory  else                                       echo    F NAME  is not valid  fi

User · Answer

bin bash                                                                                                echo  Please Enter a file name                                                                              read filename                                                                                              if test -f  filename                                                                                       then                                                                                                               echo  this is a file                                                                               else                                                                                                               echo  this is not a file                                                                           fi

[bash] Check if passed argument is file or directory in Bash

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