How do I run my shell script from anywhere

Question

I have an Ubuntu Studio 16.10 64 bit. I created a shell script xyz.sh the path to the file is home/somefolder/test/xyz.sh I have already added

`chmod u+x xyz.sh`

and I ran the script

./xyz.sh

It was successfull.

However, when I did a cd to go to my home directory and executed xyz.sh using

 ./xyz.sh

I got the message bash: ./xyz.sh: No such file or directory

Despite executing the following:

PATH=$PATH:home/somefolder/test/xyz.sh

You need to define the absolute path in `$PATH`, path to your script is missing a `/` at the beginning. — sebasth, Sep 24 '17 at 13:08
I have added I just missed it here that's it I just checked my history — beegee Assem, Sep 24 '17 at 13:11
Possible duplicate of [Problems when trying to execute sh file from another sh file](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/196135/problems-when-trying-to-execute-sh-file-from-another-sh-file) — G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica', Sep 24 '17 at 13:53
Partial duplicate of [Problems when trying to execute sh file from another sh file](https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/196135/80216): don’t use `./xyz.sh` unless you’re in the directory where `xyz.sh` is located. — G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica', Sep 24 '17 at 13:57

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 24 '17 at 20:04

4

If you've added the path correctly, you just need to call the name of the script, so xyz.sh rather than using ./xyz.sh

By using ./ you telling your shell to look in the current working directory, and run xyz.sh from there.

--

Side note, you're missing a / from the beginning of your directory path, it should be PATH=$PATH:/home/somefolder/test and you should only add the directory, not the entire executable name.

edited Sep 24 '17 at 20:04

njsg

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answered Sep 24 '17 at 13:08

djsmiley2kStaysInside

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When an answer has worked for you, you'd normally accept it, by hitting the the big tick. – djsmiley2kStaysInside Sep 24 '17 at 20:23

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 24 '17 at 13:51

Explicitly stating a path to an executable will make the shell try to use that path to execute the executable.

If saying ./myscript and if myscript is not in the current directory, then you will get a "no such file or directory" error. This does not use the $PATH variable.

The $PATH should be a :-delimited list of directories (not files) in which the shell will search for executables when no path is specified on the command line. It is a potential security risk to add the current directory (.) to the PATH variable (see "Is it safe to add . to my PATH? How come?").

Another simple solution for when you just want to have access to a single executable outside of you ordinary $PATH is to use an alias:

alias myscript=/path/to/myscript

(this goes in your shell initialization file, probably .bashrc for bash).

You should specify the full absolute path to the executable in the alias.

How do I run my shell script from anywhere

2 Answers2