Check if a directory exists in subdirectory in shell script

Question

What command checks if a directory exists in another path using shell script?

I searched about this, but all I could find was checking if a directory exists in "current" directory.

if [ -d "$DIRECTORY" ]; then
  # found "any" directory
fi

This doesn't satisfy when I want to know if "any" directory exist inside of another directory.

if [ -d "./PATH/$DIRECTORY" ]; then
  # found "any" directory in subdirectory
fi

Apparently this did not work. This still checks from current working directory, not the path I have given.

Any suggestions?

I would like to use this in if condition, so answering with keeping that form would be helpful.

EDIT

In shell script I added as following:

#!/bin/bash

ls -ld ./smth/world/
echo DIRECTORY=$DIRECTORY

if [ -d "./smth/$DIRECTORY/" ]; then
   echo hi
else
   echo nope
fi

in the current directory, I have a directory called "smth". Inside that "smth" I created a dummy directory "world"

EDIT #2

After I added the dot in front of path, I get the following:

drwxrwxr-x 2 (myname) (myname) 4096 Sep  5 14:39 ./smth/world/
DIRECTORY=
found

BUT after I delete the world directory inside of smth directory, still get "found".

Your question is unclear. Assuming that your variable DIRECTORY contains the word world. The expressions ` [ -d "/smth/$DIRECTORY" ]` or alternatively [[ -d /smth/$DIRECTORY ]] both test, whether the directory /smth/world (absolute path) exists. If your test doesn't show the desired result, I suggest that you - just for testing purpose do a ls -ld /smth/world and a echo DIRECTORY=$DIRECTORY right before the if statement. If your goal is to test something different, please rephrase your question. — user1934428
– user1934428, Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 9:02
I edited my question to what you told me, and I get the result as following — Humble Thinker
– Humble Thinker, Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 19:44

jlliagre · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-05 09:11:31Z

6

That's the other way. ./ if for a directory relative to the current directory, / if for a fully specified directory, i.e.:

If you provide a full path to the directory, you need to remove the dot:

if [ -d "/full/path/to/smth/$DIRECTORY" ]; then
  # found 
fi

If the PATH directory is relative to your current one, the dot must be kept:

if [ -d "./smth/$DIRECTORY" ]; then
  # found
fi

If the DIRECTORY variable is unset, the previous commands will check if there is a directory named PATH in the smth one, if the DIRECTORY variable is set, the test will only succeed if there is a subdirectory with that value under smth.

echo $DIRECTORY will tell you if the DIRECTORY variable is set.

edited Sep 5, 2016 at 9:11

answered Sep 5, 2016 at 5:52

jlliagre

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4 Comments

Humble Thinker Over a year ago

Wow I can't believe I didn't try that after almost 30 min. My rank is not high enough to upvote, but thank you so much!

Humble Thinker Over a year ago

Hmm... I don't know why but that always gives me false. I made a directory in "PATH" then wrote simple code "echo hi", but doesn't print anything.

jlliagre Over a year ago

Please edit your question and add the precise commands you ran and their output.

Humble Thinker Over a year ago

Have done so. There's really not much to see, but that's the code I used.

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