Hello Boris/baris35,

I think I understand the principle, but as a starting point, let me indent your code for clarity:-

Code:

cd /directoryA
for loopa in *.txt;
do
   some codes 
   cd ../directoryB
   for loopb in *.txt;
   do
      some codes
      cd ../directoryC
      for loopc in *.txt;
      do
         some codes
      done
   done
done

As you can see, I have changed the variable for the loops else results will be unpredictable.

With this, you would be trying to read everything in directoryC 3,000~ish times (for every file in directoryA multiplied by every file in directoryB) Is this really what you want?

You also have the problem that you are changing directory just before a loop, but on leaving the loop you do not change back, so for the second loop and after (e.g. file b.txt) of directoryB, your shell would be in directoryC. When processing the second loop and after of files in directoryA (e.g. 2.txt), your shell would also be either in directoryC so your some codes statement would have to handle being in various places. The for loop will already have been formed, so the loop as a whole will process as you are telling it, but very likely in the wrong directory.

You you just want to process each file once, you need to move the done statements, which would give you this:-

Code:

cd /directoryA
for i in *.txt;
do
   some codes 
   cd ../directoryB
done

for i in *.txt;
do
   some codes
done

cd ../directoryC
for i in *.txt;
do
   some codes
done

If you really do want to process every file in directoryC 3,000~ish times, consider using pushd & popd to handle directory transitions like this:-

Code:

pushd /directoryA
for loopa in *.txt;
do
   some codes 
   pushd /directoryB
   for loopb in *.txt;
   do
      some codes
      pushd /directoryC
      for loopc in *.txt;
      do
         some codes
      done
      popd
   done
   popd
done
popd

They will handle the moving in and out of directories safely. It is better to use a fully qualified directory path rather than trying to assume where you are and issuing cd ../directoryX



Sorry I've gone on for a while, but I hope that this helps.


Can you tell us what you are actually trying to achieve? So sort of logical steps you want to do and we can work no it a bit better.

Kind regards,
Robin