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check if directory exists

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# 1  
Old 06-13-2005
check if directory exists
Hi,

I need to prompt for a response from a user to enter a path
Code:
read dest_dir?"Please Enter Directory :"

How do I do this until a valid directory is entered by the user. I can use
Code:
[ -d dest_dir ]

to check the existence of the directory. However when I try the following I cannot get it to work.
Code:
while [ -z $dest_dir ]
do
    read dest_dir?"Please Enter Directory :"
    if [ -d $dest_dir ];
       then
             echo "Invalid directory entered. Please try again"
    fi
done

This is what I am getting as an output when I execute the above piece of code.

test.sh: test: 0403-004 Specify a parameter with this command

What am i doing wrong. Please advise. Thanks.
# 2  
Old 06-13-2005
quote the $dest_dir in your test.

Code:
[ -z "$dest_dir" ]

# 3  
Old 06-13-2005
Quote:
Originally Posted by reborg
quote the $dest_dir in your test.

Code:
[ -z "$dest_dir" ]

Thanks reborg. Now I have the following
Code:
while [ -z "$dest_dir" ]
do
    read dest_dir?"Please Enter Directory :"
    if [ -d $dest_dir ];
       then
             echo "Invalid directory entered. Please try again"
    fi
done

When executed and if the response is just a "CR". I get the following
test.sh
Please Enter Directory :
test.sh[4]: test: 0403-004 Specify a parameter with this command.
Please Enter Directory :

To overcome the same I changed line 4 to also include quotes. Also I included the negation on this check to make it work correctly as follows
Code:
while [ ! -d "$dest_dir" ]
do
    read dest_dir?"Please Enter Directory :"
    if [ ! -d "$dest_dir" ];
       then
             echo "Invalid directory entered. Please try again"
    fi
done

.

Thanks.
Last edited by jerardfjay; 06-13-2005 at 03:33 PM.. Reason: code change
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