Create Files And Directories With Parent Directories
Some of the most common commands for iterating with the FS in Linux that we use in our day-to-day tasks are:
-
mkdir dir- Create a single directory -
mkdir -p foo/bar/dir- Create a directory with parent directories -
touch file- Create a new file -
mkdir -p foo/bar && touch foo/bar/file- Create a file with parent directories
Not very complex. And all of us are actually used to this syntax.
But let me introduce you a script which allows you to deal with paths with use of just one single command which is even simpler.
Examples
Take a look at the following examples to get an idea of how the process of creating paths may look like when following just one convention:
I was actually inspired by the way how the Vim NERDTree plugin deals with paths following the same convention described above.
If you want to create a file, just provide a path to it:
$ tt foo/bar/file # => Will create a file "/current/path/foo/bar/file"
If you want to create a directory, append a / to the path:
$ tt foo/bar/dir/ # => Will create a directory "/current/path/foo/bar/dir"
The same will also work for absolute paths:
$ tt /foo/bar/file # => Will create a file at "/foo/bar/file"
$ tt /foo/bar/dir/ # => Will create a directory at "/foo/bar/dir/"
Installation
To install the script just copy one raw file from github to your search $PATH and make it executable.
For example:
wget -O /tmp/tt -- https://gist.githubusercontent.com/zinovyev/1f8caf9e886de610e2dd2c22a4ef7d69/raw/tt ;\
chmod +x /tmp/tt ;\
sudo mv -f /tmp/tt /usr/bin/tt
Source Code
That’s how the source code looks like:
| #! /usr/bin/env bash | |
| # Create file or directory with parent directories | |
| # For a more detalied description please take a look at: | |
| # https://zinovyev.net/blog/create-files-and-directories-with-parent-directories | |
| HELP_MESSAGE=$(cat <<EOM | |
| Create files or directories with underlying path | |
| Usage Examples: | |
| tt foo/bar/file # => Create a file with parent directories relative to the current path "/current/path/foo/bar/file" | |
| tt /foo/bar/file # => Create a file with parent directories starting with an absolute path "/foo/bar/file" | |
| tt /foo/bar/dir/ # => Append "/" to the path to create a directory with parent directories "/foo/bar/dir" | |
| Install or update: | |
| wget -O /tmp/tt -- https://gist.githubusercontent.com/zinovyev/1f8caf9e886de610e2dd2c22a4ef7d69/raw/tt ; \ | |
| chmod +x /tmp/tt ; \ | |
| sudo mv -f /tmp/tt /usr/bin/tt | |
| Inspired by the NERDTree plugin for Vim | |
| EOM | |
| ) | |
| if [ -z $1 ] || [ $1 == '-h' ] || [ $1 == '--help' ]; then echo -e "$HELP_MESSAGE" ; exit 1 ; fi | |
| LAST_CHAR=${1: -1} | |
| # Consider as directory when ending with / | |
| if [ $LAST_CHAR == '/' ]; then | |
| mkdir -p $1 | |
| # Consider as file otherwise | |
| else | |
| TARGET_FILE=$(echo $1 | awk -F '/' '{print $NF}') | |
| TARGET_PATH=${1%"$TARGET_FILE"} | |
| if [ $TARGET_PATH ] && [ -n ${TARGET_PATH##*( )} ]; then | |
| # Prepend TARGET_PATH with PWD for relative paths | |
| if [[ ${TARGET_PATH:0:1} != "/" ]]; then | |
| TARGET_PATH="${PWD}/$TARGET_PATH" | |
| fi | |
| # Remove trailing `/` on the end of TARGET_PATH | |
| if [[ ${#TARGET_PATH} > 1 ]]; then | |
| TARGET_PATH=${TARGET_PATH%"/"} | |
| fi | |
| # Create path if needed | |
| if [[ ! -d $TARGET_PATH ]]; then | |
| mkdir -p $TARGET_PATH | |
| fi | |
| fi | |
| touch $1 | |
| fi |
