4

let's say the scriptname is myscript. It's a symbolic link to thescript_1.91.sh

Is there a way to get the name of the link destination? An example: I want to write in a logfile

cat <<EOF

#########################
`basename $0`
`date -R` 
#########################

EOF

$0 holds the name of the file argument to the subshell, that is "myscript"

Is there a way to get the name of the link-destination here?

Michael
  • 41

1 Answers1

3

If your system has a readlink utility, this would do that.

cat <<END_MESSAGE
#########################
$( basename "$( readlink -f "$0" )" )
$( date -R ) 
#########################
END_MESSAGE

The -f option is used to resolve all symlinks in the given pathname recursively, not just the first link. See the manual for readlink on your system (man 1 readlink).

Also related:

Kusalananda
  • 333,661
  • See also: https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/029 – m0dular Jun 29 '18 at 17:05
  • Hi,

    readlink did it! I didn't know that command.

    Sometimes I also use the $() convention. But most of the time I use backticks like I did in the last ~25 years....

    Thank you!

     – Michael Jun 30 '18 at 13:55