Getting name of containing Folder

Question

I have a shell script that I want to copy in many directories

Inside this script, How can I initialize the variable

PARENT_FOLDER

in a way to store in it the name (and not the absolute path) of the folder containing this script?

Note that this script may be run from any folder.

Thanks in advance.

What does "name (and not the path) of the folder" mean precisely? — John1024, Apr 04 '14 at 07:26
possible duplicate of [Can a Bash script tell what directory it's stored in?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/59895/can-a-bash-script-tell-what-directory-its-stored-in) — Adrian Frühwirth, Apr 04 '14 at 07:41
Sorry i was not precise. by path I meant absolute path, and by name I mean't just the name. Your answer is exactly what I need (+1 and accepted) Thanks a lot. — Issam T., Apr 04 '14 at 07:42
Thanks Adrian. You re right. Seems google failed this time , or maybe me :) — Issam T., Apr 04 '14 at 07:52
However it s not really a duplicate and there is still the need of PARENT_FOLDER=${PARENT_FOLDER##*/} — Issam T., Apr 04 '14 at 07:59

John1024 · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-04T08:08:01.977

2

Under most circumstances, the following gets the absolute path to the directory that the script is in:

PARENT_FOLDER=$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")

(OSX and BSD might lack the -f option without which the path may still contain symbolic links.)

If you just want the name of the final directory in the path, just add one step:

PARENT_FOLDER=$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")
PARENT_FOLDER=${PARENT_FOLDER##*/}

On systems lacking readlink -f but for which bash is available:

PARENT_FOLDER="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
PARENT_FOLDER=${PARENT_FOLDER##*/}

And if lacking both readlink -f and bash:

PARENT_FOLDER="$( cd "$( dirname "$0" )" && pwd )"
PARENT_FOLDER=${PARENT_FOLDER##*/}

edited Apr 04 '14 at 08:08

answered Apr 04 '14 at 07:23

John1024

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Yes. It creates a problem on mac osx with the option -f so better use the solution mentioned by @Adrian Frühwirth – Issam T. Apr 04 '14 at 07:58
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@IssamT. OSX is often a little different. I updated my answer also. – John1024 Apr 04 '14 at 08:08
I think this now that this is a full answer to pretty much anyone. Nice job :) – Issam T. Apr 04 '14 at 08:17

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

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To get parent folder of Current Directory you can use following command

PARENT_FOLDER=$(pwd | awk -F"/" 'OFS="/"{$NF=""}1')

To Update

also below command can work

from man page of command dirname Print NAME with its trailing /component removed; if NAME contains no /’s, output ‘.’ (meaning the current directory).

PARENT_FOLDER=$(dirname "$PWD") or

PARENT_FOLDER=$(dirname "$0")

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Apr 04 '14 at 07:32

Vasanta Koli

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 04 '14 at 07:25

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PARENT_FOLDER=$(pwd | awk -F / '{if ($NF!="") print $NF; else print "/"}')

answered Apr 04 '14 at 07:25

a5hk

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score 0 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

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The best solution that worked for me on both mac and linux is

PARENT_FOLDER="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
PARENT_FOLDER=${PARENT_FOLDER##*/}

It is a combination of the answer given in this link:

Getting the source directory of a Bash script from within

And the answer given by @John1024

edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

Community

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answered Apr 04 '14 at 08:02

Issam T.

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Getting name of containing Folder

4 Answers4