/Shell/Bash/How can I check if a directory exists in a Bash shell script?

How can I check if a directory exists in a Bash shell script?

To check if a directory exists in a shell script, you can use the following:

if [ -d "$DIRECTORY" ]; then
  # Control will enter here if $DIRECTORY exists.
fi
Or to check if a directory doesn't exist:

if [ ! -d "$DIRECTORY" ]; then
  # Control will enter here if $DIRECTORY doesn't exist.
fi
However, as Jon Ericson points out, subsequent commands may not work as intended if you do not take into account that a symbolic link to a directory will also pass this check. E.g. running this:

ln -s "$ACTUAL_DIR" "$SYMLINK"
if [ -d "$SYMLINK" ]; then 
  rmdir "$SYMLINK" 
fi
Will produce the error message:

rmdir: failed to remove `symlink': Not a directory
So symbolic links may have to be treated differently, if subsequent commands expect directories:

if [ -d "$LINK_OR_DIR" ]; then 
  if [ -L "$LINK_OR_DIR" ]; then
    # It is a symlink!
    # Symbolic link specific commands go here.
    rm "$LINK_OR_DIR"
  else
    # It's a directory!
    # Directory command goes here.
    rmdir "$LINK_OR_DIR"
  fi
fi
Take particular note of the double-quotes used to wrap the variables. The reason for this is explained by 8jean in another answer.

If the variables contain spaces or other unusual characters it will probably cause the script to fail.

Source: stackoverflow.com

Similar codes

0 vote167 views1 answer
How to drive linux 2020 bluetooth on ubuntu
Shell/Bash
19 votes194 views2 answers
Fix ‘add-apt-repository command not found’ Error on Ubuntu and Debian
Shell/Bash
0 vote221 views1 answer
Quick checkers for ubuntu
Shell/Bash
0 vote162 views1 answer
Jetson nano 4.3 TRT
Shell/Bash
0 vote188 views1 answer
Requires pyqt5<5.13, which is not installed.
Shell/Bash
7 votes180 views4 answers
Django upgrade
Shell/Bash
2 votes167 views1 answer
Push with lease
Shell/Bash
122 votes169 views6 answers
How to uninstall npm package
Shell/Bash
1 vote160 views1 answer
Ng g c --skipTests true
Shell/Bash
5 votes164 views1 answer
Teclado abnt arch linux
Shell/Bash