How to get dynamic path in a shell script?

Question

I am writing a script that requires to get a dynamic folder path like this.

somefolder/prefix.datetime_suffix/foldera/folderb

datetime is in format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. datetime part is changing.

In a script I need to get a full path of folderb to move files there.

How can I do that?

what's your problem? to build the datetime string by a given datetime? — Kent
– Kent, Commented Oct 30, 2018 at 17:57

Mark Howell · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-05 20:42:35Z

2

You could have an inline date call in your path like:

    MYVARIABLE="somefolder/`date '+%Y%m%d%H%M%S'`/foldera/folderb/"

or (using the cleaner syntax)

    MYVARIABLE="somefolder/$(date '+%Y%m%d%H%M%S')/foldera/folderb/"

After setting the above variable, you could use it with mv command like:

    mv ./file.xyz $(MYVARIABLE)

Also, the man page for date lists all the formatting options.

edited Nov 5, 2018 at 20:42

answered Oct 30, 2018 at 18:00

Mark Howell

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3 Comments

Bill Torcaso Over a year ago

Mark Howell's answer works perfectly well. As a personal preference, I prefer this Bash syntax (assuming you are using Bash ...) somefolder/$(date '+%Y%m%d%H%M%S')/foldera/folderb Because my brain parses balanced parens more easily than equal back-tic pairs

R. Bogaveev Over a year ago

thanks but I need it in a variable. Sorry for confusion. I had to mention it)

Mark Howell Over a year ago

I also like the $() format, though often use backticks because of fewer keystrokes.

Nick Ellis · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-30 17:50:17Z

0

find /complete_path_to/some_folder -name folderb

answered Oct 30, 2018 at 17:50

Nick Ellis

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1 Comment

R. Bogaveev Over a year ago

thanks but I need it in a variable. Sorry for confusion. I had to mention it)

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