Calling mkdir to home directory creates said directory in current working directory?

Question

I am inside a bash script located at /home/[username]/Documents/work/script.sh. I want to create two folders, potato/tomato at /home/[username]/. To do so, here's my script:

mkdir -p "~/potato/tomato"

However, this creates the two folders like this: /home/[username]/Documents/work/potato/tomato.

I don't want to create these folders in my current working directory, I want them in my current user's home directory. What am I doing wrong and what should I change?

try without "", mkdir -p ~/potato/tomato – ChauhanTs Aug 24 '19 at 17:26 — ChauhanTs, Aug 24 '19 at 17:26

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 24 '19 at 17:26

0

Remove the quotes:

mkdir -p ~/potato/tomato

By using quotes, it's evaluating the home directory and using your username as a name in the path, starting from the current working directly. Without the quotes, it will evaluate correctly to the absolutely path of your home directory.

answered Aug 24 '19 at 17:26

djsumdog

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Is that a feature or a bug in the shell? ;-) – shellter Aug 24 '19 at 17:28

Calling mkdir to home directory creates said directory in current working directory?

1 Answers1