Shell Script to assign command output to a parameter [duplicate]

Question

I need a Shell Script that looks at the specified directory and assigns the name of the last modified subdirectory to a specific variable.

I can get the name of the latest subdirectory in /apps/ like this:

cd /apps
ls -td -- */ | head -n 1 | cut -d'/' -f1

But how do I assign the result of the second command to a variable, so I can use the parameter in the further script commands (e.g. mkdir $variable)?

user2926055 · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-04 17:37:53Z

2

What you're asking for is called command substitution:

cd /apps
some_dir=$(ls -td -- */ | head -n 1 | cut -d'/' -f1)
mkdir -p "$some_dir"

answered Apr 4, 2017 at 17:37

user2926055

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2 Comments

Fantastic, exactly what I needed.

This assigns to a variable, not to a parameter. If this is what is desired, the question should be edited.