Search for username substring in pwd string

Question

Any idea what is wrong with this script? I am trying to check to see if the username is part of the present working directory file path. I have included two different implementations of the same thing, and neither of them work.

#!/bin/bash

USER_NAME=$(whoami)

if [[ "$USER_NAME" == *"$PWD"* ]]; then
  echo $PWD
else
  echo "not found"
fi

case "$USER_NAME" in 
  *$PWD*) echo $PWD ;;
esac

Also, this does not work either:

grep "$USER_NAME" "$PWD"

However, this works:

echo "$PWD" | grep "$USER_NAME"

Any idea what is going on here?

EDIT: This does not work either:

if [[ *"$PWD"* == "$USER_NAME" ]]; then
  echo "found"
else
  echo "not found"
fi

or even this:

if [[ $PWD == $USER_NAME ]]; then
  echo "found"
else
  echo "not found"
fi

or any other combination of * or quotes that I have tried so far.

EDIT2:

finally got it, have to use this:

if [[ $PWD == *$USER_NAME* ]]; then
  echo "found"
else
  echo "not found"
fi

I have referred to many different questions on SO and SE which address this, which is where I got the examples, but have not found a clear answer as to why these examples do not work. — user5359531, Dec 15 '15 at 22:50
Just check that one duplicate, and compare it with your codes... Sloppyness and programming don't mix well together. — Karoly Horvath, Dec 15 '15 at 22:53
@CharlesDuffy: You don't see it either? Lol. I will post an answer... — Karoly Horvath, Dec 15 '15 at 22:55
I have already tried swapping the arguments and it still does not work. Have also tried various combinations of quotes and *, none of them seem to result in matching username within the PWD path — user5359531, Dec 15 '15 at 23:23

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 15 '15 at 22:58

1

There are two things, what you search for, and what you search in. You're mixing the two in your examples.

if [[ "$USER_NAME" == *"$PWD"* ]]; then
           ^------swap----^

And this greps in the file named by the contents of PWD clearly won't work, because PWD is a directory, not a file:

grep "$USER_NAME" "$PWD"

edited Dec 15 '15 at 22:58

Charles Duffy

280,126
43
390
441

answered Dec 15 '15 at 22:55

Karoly Horvath

94,607
11
117
176

I had already tried swapping them but it still did/does not work – user5359531 Dec 15 '15 at 23:07
Nonsense. Post the value of the variables which it fails with. – Karoly Horvath Dec 16 '15 at 11:20

Search for username substring in pwd string

1 Answers1