UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello,

I wasn't sure where to post this so I posted it here. I've used UNIX quite a bit, LINUX not so much. For some reason, my LINUX script will not execute if I type in the script name and press enter. I'm in the directory where the script is.

test.sh

However, when I use ". ./" it executes fine. I was wondering why this is and what I need to do to have it execute at the command prompt without the ". ./".

. ./test.sh

This is part of a bigger question and issue I'm having which I'm not looking to resolve here. I'm trying to install Informatica 9.1 onto a LINUX RedHat platform. The install script wouldn't run when I typed in install.sh. When I ran it with ". ./install.sh a number of error messages popped up and the install hung. I'm working with Informatica Support on this.

Regards, Jim

Shouldn't that be

Code:

./test.sh

Or

Code:

/fullpath_to_script/test.sh

The reason your script won't execute as just test.sh is because the directory containing the script is not in $PATH . Your other system may have had . in $PATH (i.e. any current directory) which is a big security risk.

Thank you,

I didn't notice that this system when I did an "ls", did not have a '.' or a ".." directory. I do remember other systems I've worked on did have those directories. That certainly makes sense now.

Regards, Jim

. and .. definitely exist in Linux too, though ls may not show them. They have the usual meaning, current folder and previous folder.

You may be misunderstanding me about $PATH.

Try this command to show you the contents of the standard $PATH variable. It lists all the directories in order which the Operating System will search when looking for a program or executable script. If the variable $PATH contains . (current directory) then it will also look in whatever is the current directory.

Code:

echo "${PATH}"

The . and .. directories are always there.
Try:

Code:

ls -la

Thanks for the help again...