How to run a script from any directory?

Should i include any environment or wat should i start with in writing a script ?

Without assuming completeness:

- make all the paths inside the script absolute. "/x/y/z" will always refer to the same place, "./a/b/c" will not

- set the environment explicitly. You might not need that for scripts run from the commandline, but once you put the script into cron the environment is different (in this case: non-existent). Scripts which "work" on the commandline but not from cron because of this make a good part of the problems in "Shell Programming and Scripting" forum.

If you want a truly encapsulated solution you can use an external shell function for the environment and put this function into a "library". Analogous to the "PATH" variable there is a "FPATH" variable which can be set to a list of directories. It tells the shell where to search for external functions.

- all the rules of software engineering apply. Just because it is a script language does not exempt you from the necessity to document, encapsulate, strucurize, .... your code. If you wouldn't do it in a high-level language you shouldn't do it in a script either.

I hope this helps.

bakunin