Bash code problem in accessing directories and its files

Question

I am new in bash, and using online bash compiler, I am trying to go to access every directory and the file in it in a loop. But every time it is showing the directory does not exist. What is the correct syntax to create and access the directory in online bash compiler like replit?

#!/bin/bash
for I in new, new1
  do
    cp /fileName $1
  done

Output:

cp: cannot stat 'fileName': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat 'fileName': No such file or directory

you should add a sample example of what you are trying to do — Cyrille MODIANO, Jul 23 '21 at 12:47
I have attached the picture to the question.. please have a look at that. There I have tried to copy a file named "fileName" to the the directories. — Nur, Jul 23 '21 at 12:58
`for i in new new1; do echo cp filename "$i"; done` No need for the `,` to separate the elements that you're looping through, Also the `/` means the parent directory on a Unix/Linux directory tree, The `echo` is there to show you what might have been... — Jetchisel, Jul 23 '21 at 13:04
[Please do not upload images of code/errors when asking a question.](//meta.stackoverflow.com/q/285551) — 0stone0, Jul 23 '21 at 13:07
How I will write now if I want to loop through all the files present in all the directories?@Jetchisel — Nur, Jul 23 '21 at 13:39
Either use `globstar`s shell option from `bash` or use `find`. I can't do it right now, hopefully someone can answer you. Mean while search this forum , there are a lot of entries/question like yours. — Jetchisel, Jul 23 '21 at 13:46

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 23 '21 at 14:50

The problem is that you prefix fileName with /, so it's expecting one in the root directory (of the operating system), not a file relative to where the program is being run, but literally a file at /fileName

You then also use $I as the loop variable, but later try to refer to $1 when they should be the same

you almost-certainly want a form like

for path in new new1; do
   cp fileName "$path/"
done

Bash code problem in accessing directories and its files

1 Answers1