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Test whether absolute path in variable

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# 1  
Old 05-21-2007
Test whether absolute path in variable
I'm using the following line in bash to test whether an argument supplied is an absolute path or not:

if echo $1 | grep '^/' > /dev/null
then
absolute=1
else
absoute=0
fi

The line appears to work but seems somewhat unprofessional looking to me. Is it an acceptable way to test this or is there some more advisable way?
# 2  
Old 05-21-2007
Bash and Ksh solution:
Code:
if [[ "$1" = /* ]]
then
   : # Absolute path
else
   : # Relative path
fi

Jean-Pierre.
# 3  
Old 05-21-2007
Quote:
Originally Posted by dkieran
I'm using the following line in bash to test whether an argument supplied is an absolute path or not:

if echo $1 | grep '^/' > /dev/null
then
absolute=1
else
absoute=0
fi

The line appears to work but seems somewhat unprofessional looking to me. Is it an acceptable way to test this or is there some more advisable way?

The fastest and most portable way (which will work in any Bourne-type shell, e.g., sh, bash, ksh, ash) is:

Code:
case $1 in
     /*) absolute=1 ;;
     *) absolute=0 ;;
esac

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