How to Find the Directory Where a Shell Script Resides

When working with Unix shell scripts, there are many scenarios where you need to determine the directory in which the script itself is located. For example, you might want to reference other files relative to the script’s location, regardless of where the script is being executed from. This task isn’t as straightforward as it might seem because scripts can be called from different directories or via symbolic links.

In this blog post, we’ll explore several methods to find the directory of a shell script, with examples in Bash and other Unix shells.

Why Do You Need the Script Directory?

Sometimes, scripts depend on other resources like configuration files or other scripts that are located in the same directory as the script itself. If you try to reference those files using relative paths, things can break if you run the script from a different directory. The solution is to dynamically determine the directory where the script resides and base all paths on that.

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