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

Question

What command can be used to check if a directory exists or not, within a Bash shell script?

Answer 1

To check more than one directory use this code:

if [ -d "$DIRECTORY1" ] && [ -d "$DIRECTORY2" ] then
    # Things to do
fi

Answer 2

The below find can be used,

find . -type d -name dirname -prune -print

Answer 3

Shorter form:

[ -d "$DIR" ] && echo "Yes"

Answer 4

The ls command in conjunction with -l (long listing) option returns attributes information about files and directories.
In particular the first character of ls -l output it is usually a d or a - (dash). In case of a d the one listed is a directory for sure.

The following command in just one line will tell you if the given ISDIR variable contains a path to a directory or not:

[[ $(ls -ld "$ISDIR" | cut -c1) == 'd' ]] &&
    echo "YES, $ISDIR is a directory." || 
    echo "Sorry, $ISDIR is not a directory"

Practical usage:

    [claudio@nowhere ~]$ ISDIR="$HOME/Music" 
    [claudio@nowhere ~]$ ls -ld "$ISDIR"
    drwxr-xr-x. 2 claudio claudio 4096 Aug 23 00:02 /home/claudio/Music
    [claudio@nowhere ~]$ [[ $(ls -ld "$ISDIR" | cut -c1) == 'd' ]] && 
        echo "YES, $ISDIR is a directory." ||
        echo "Sorry, $ISDIR is not a directory"
    YES, /home/claudio/Music is a directory.

    [claudio@nowhere ~]$ touch "empty file.txt"
    [claudio@nowhere ~]$ ISDIR="$HOME/empty file.txt" 
    [claudio@nowhere ~]$ [[ $(ls -ld "$ISDIR" | cut -c1) == 'd' ]] && 
        echo "YES, $ISDIR is a directory." || 
        echo "Sorry, $ISDIR is not a directoy"
    Sorry, /home/claudio/empty file.txt is not a directory

Answer 5

This answer wrapped up as a shell script

Examples

$ is_dir ~                           
YES

$ is_dir /tmp                        
YES

$ is_dir ~/bin                       
YES

$ mkdir '/tmp/test me'

$ is_dir '/tmp/test me'
YES

$ is_dir /asdf/asdf                  
NO

# Example of calling it in another script
DIR=~/mydata
if [ $(is_dir $DIR) == "NO" ]
then
  echo "Folder doesnt exist: $DIR";
  exit;
fi

is_dir

function show_help()
{
  IT=$(CAT <<EOF

  usage: DIR
  output: YES or NO, depending on whether or not the directory exists.

  )
  echo "$IT"
  exit
}

if [ "$1" == "help" ]
then
  show_help
fi
if [ -z "$1" ]
then
  show_help
fi

DIR=$1
if [ -d $DIR ]; then 
   echo "YES";
   exit;
fi
echo "NO";

Answer 6

You can use test -d (see man test).

-d file True if file exists and is a directory.

For example:

test -d "/etc" && echo Exists || echo Does not exist

Note: The test command is same as conditional expression [ (see: man [), so it's portable across shell scripts.

[ - This is a synonym for the test builtin, but the last argument must, be a literal ], to match the opening [.

For possible options or further help, check:

• help [
• help test
• man test or man [