Why use $HOME over ~ (tilde) in a shell script?

Question

Is there any reason to use the variable $HOME instead of a simple ~ (tilde) in a shell script?

score 44 · Accepted Answer · edited May 09 '11 at 01:25

44

Tilde expansion doesn't work in some situations, like in the middle of strings like /foo/bar:~/baz

edited May 09 '11 at 01:25

Nakilon

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answered May 08 '11 at 22:06

Random832

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For another example of where it does not work, scroll to the answer by @no_allotment . – H2ONaCl May 28 '17 at 01:10

score 17 · Answer 2 · edited May 09 '11 at 01:25

17

Portability and uniformity of $HOME. Tilde is a typing shortcut.

edited May 09 '11 at 01:25

Nakilon

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answered May 08 '11 at 22:14

evolvah

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So I'm correct in understanding that there are shells or systems in which tilde is not synonymous with $HOME? – mybuddymichael May 10 '11 at 02:59
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@Michael yes, the default `sh` in Solaris 10 does not treat tilde as `$HOME` neither is does expand `~username`. – evolvah Apr 02 '12 at 03:44

no_allotment · Answer 3 · 2015-10-10T11:19:28.983

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Today I found tilde expansion doesn't work in double quotation("").

In zsh(sorry I didn't check the behavior of other shells.),

Inside double quotes (""), parameter and command substitution occur

Tilde expansion is a filename expansion, so it fails inside double quotation.
$HOME is a parameter substitution and can be expanded inside double quotation.
$HOME is a safe bet.

edited Oct 10 '15 at 11:19

answered Oct 10 '15 at 11:09

no_allotment

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Why use $HOME over ~ (tilde) in a shell script?

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