Get location of "source"ed script

Question

I want to execute statements like (shell is bash)

/# source /workspace/scripts/script.sh
/workspace/scripts# source script.sh

Inside the script.sh I want to get its own location. (script.sh wont be in the PATH variable)

I could do this using readlink -f $0 when run the script, but the same doesnt work when I source it.

I dont want the solution to be dependent on where I run the source command from. (otherwise pwd would have been enough)

Is this possible?

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 01 '12 at 19:06

4

It is not possible to find the location reliably in 100% of all cases.
If you use bash your best bet is $BASH_SOURCE variable.
This link is very helpful on this topic.

answered May 01 '12 at 19:06

c00kiemon5ter

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BASH_SOURCE did the trick. Thank you. (Using the code from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/59895/can-a-bash-script-tell-what-directory-its-stored-in?page=1&tab=active#tab-top) – Schu May 01 '12 at 19:53

zigdon · Answer 2 · 2012-05-01T19:22:38.543

0

Since script.sh is in your path, you should be able to get it's full path using which. So, in the script, if $0 isn't a full path, you can do which $0.

carabiner$ cat ~/bin/test.sh
#!/bin/sh

echo test - $0 $1
which $0

carabiner$ source test.sh
test - test.sh
test.sh is /home/zigdon/bin/test.sh

edited May 01 '12 at 19:22

answered May 01 '12 at 19:07

zigdon

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when you source a script $0 isnt pointing to the file anymore, it points to the shell thats running the "source script.sh" – Schu May 01 '12 at 19:17
I thought that was true too, but at least in `zsh`, it does actually point to the script sourced. – zigdon May 01 '12 at 19:22
looks like the behavior is not same in bash though – Schu May 01 '12 at 19:30
1

You should use `type -a` in Bash instead of `which`. – Dennis Williamson May 01 '12 at 21:06

Get location of "source"ed script

2 Answers2