Re: Suggestion: cdm command

[Erik Auerswald]

Hi all,

On 12.01.21 16:55, Bernhard Voelker wrote:
> On 1/12/21 3:20 PM, Mourad Bougarne wrote:
> > I know that there's a command option to create a directory if not exists
> > using mkdir -p DIRECTORY_NAME, but what I suggest is create a directory if
> > not exists when we change it, so:
> >
> > $ cd non-exists-directory
> > $ bash: cd: non-exists-directory: No such file or directory
> >
> > With the command that I suggest we can do:
> > cdm: change directory make if not exists
> > $ cdm non-exists-directory
> This is not possible as a separate tool, because the working directory of
> the calling shell process would not change.
>
> What about a simple shell function?
>
>    $ function cdm() { mkdir "$1" && cd "$1"; }
>
>    $ cdm hello
>
>    $ cd ..
>
>    $ cdm hello
>    mkdir: cannot create directory 'hello': File exists

I think using 'mkdir -p' is more in line with the suggestion:

    cdm() { mkdir -p "$1" && cd "$1"; }

That would create the directory (and parent directories) only if
necessary, and would not fail if the directory already exists.

To not create parent directories, but still allow the target
directory to exist, one can replace '&&' with ';':

    cdm() { mkdir "$1"; cd "$1"; }

Thanks,
Erik