Which line is giving you the problem?

Code:

if [ $# -gt 0 ]
then
  for dir
  do
    descenddir "$dir"
  done
else
  descenddir "$PWD"
fi

That will break if any filenames contain spaces. Use:

Code:

for file in "$1"/*

Or cd into the directory:

Code:

cd "$1"
for file in *

Quote:

Code:

   do
     [ -d "$file" ] &&
      files[${#files[@]}]=$file/ ||
      files[${#files[@]}]=$file
   done

   w=10  #$(($COLUMNS/4-1))

   printf "%-$w.${w}s %-$w.${w}s %-$w.${w}s %-$w.${w}s\n" "${files[@]}"
}

#unset files
#unset answer

descenddir()
{

It would make things simpler if you execute descenddir() in a subshell:

Code:

descenddir()
(

)

Then you don't need to worry about returning to a previous directory.

Quote:

Code:

   local BASEDIR=$1
   local LOCALDIR="$PWD"

   echo "The present working directory is: $BASEDIR "

   cd $BASEDIR

That will break if $BASEDIR contains spaces. Quote the variable and check that it succeeded:

Code:

cd "$BASEDIR" || return 1

Quote:

Code:

   echo "Do you want to display the contents of this directory?"
   read answer
   case $answer in
     "Y") displaydir "$BASEDIR";;
     "N") ;;
   esac

Code:

   case $answer in
     [yY]) displaydir "$BASEDIR";;
   esac

Quote:

Code:

   local dirlist=$( ls )

   for directory in $dirlist

That will break if any filenames contain spaces. Use:

Code:

for file in *

Quote:

Code:

   do
      if [ -d $directory ]
      then {

There's no need for the braces.

Quote:

Code:

    echo "Found directory $directory;
  do you want to Descend, List or Ignore (D,L, I): "
    read answer

    case $answer in
      "D") descenddir "$BASEDIR/$directory/";;
      "L") displaydir "$BASEDIR/$directory/";;
      "I") echo "The directory was ignored" ;;
    esac

Code:

   case $answer in
      [dD]) descenddir "$BASEDIR/$directory/";;
      [lL]) displaydir "$BASEDIR/$directory/";;
      [Ii]) echo "The directory was ignored" ;;
   esac

Quote:

Code:

 
      }
      fi

   done

   cd $LOCALDIR

That will break if $LOCALDIR contains spaces. Quote the variable and check that it succeeded:

Code:

cd "$LOCALDIR" || return 1

Quote:

Code:

}

if [ $1 ]
   then descenddir $1

That will break if $1 contains spaces. Quote the variable:

Code:

   then descenddir "$1"

Quote:

Code:

   else descenddir "$PWD"
fi