Question

Im trying to run a UNIX script that will automate the process of creating directories. am running the bash shell on my machine

These are the steps I followed

1) Created a directory on my mac: ~/unix_scripts

2) Created a file: ~/unix_scripts/create_dirs.sh

 #! /usr/bin/env bash
 for ((i = 9; i<= 13; i++ ))
 do
mkdir ./courses/CPSC340/Notes/$i
echo created directory with name $i
 done

3) Changed the file permissions of this file using this command: chmod +x create_dirs.sh

4) tried to run this file using this command: ~/unix_scripts >create_dirs.sh

I got this error:
-bash: ./unix_scripts/create_dirs: No such file or directory

I have the following questions about this:

1) What am I doing wrong ? How can I get this thing to work?

2) Once it is working, How can I modify the script such that

- I can pass the beginning index and end index as arguments to the script

- I would like to also pass a prefix as a command line argument so that the directories are named ""prefix_ + (value of i)"

Many thanks for your help

Answer 1

change your script:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
PREFIX=$1
BEGIN=$2
END=$3
for ((i=BEGIN; i<=END; i++))
do
   DIRNAME=${PREFIX}${i}
   mkdir -p $DIRNAME
   echo created directory with name $DIRNAME
done

and call it correctly:

~/unix_scripts/create_dirs.sh "./courses/CPSC340/Notes/" 9 13

please take care to not overwrite it again as commented below and take time to read: http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/