Bash script to change directory from user input

Question

Whenever I execute this script it says: no such file or directory. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. I put quotes around it just in case if there is a space in the directory's name.

#!/bin/bash
read -p "Enter destination: " folder
folder=$(sed -e 's/^/"/' -e 's/$/"/' <<< $folder)
cd $folder

Put double-quotes around the variable, not in the variable. See Why does shell ignore quoting characters in arguments passed to it through variables? — Gordon Davisson
– Gordon Davisson, Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 8:40
This may help with your next problem: Why I can't change directories using “cd”? — Cyrus
– Cyrus, Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 8:43

Nelbren · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-21 09:06:44Z

1

It is better to use quotes in the cd command, regardless of whether the directory has spaces or not, like this:

#!/bin/bash
read -p "Enter destination: " folder
cd "$folder"
pwd

Test:

Another solution (use with caution as it may cause other problems) is using eval in your code:

#!/bin/bash
read -p "Enter destination: " folder
folder=$(sed -e 's/^/"/' -e 's/$/"/' <<< $folder)
eval cd $folder

References:

Bash script to cd to directory with spaces in pathname

edited Nov 21, 2020 at 9:06

answered Nov 21, 2020 at 8:12

Nelbren

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2 Comments

Gordon Davisson Over a year ago

Please don't use eval like this, it just adds ways for things to go weirdly wrong.

Nelbren Over a year ago

Thanks, i read this reference ( unix.stackexchange.com/questions/278427/… ) and I recognize that eval without the corresponding sanitization is evil.

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