Paths in Bash

Last reviewed May 28, 2026 Content v20260528

Track mode

none

Means

Read / quiz

Reading

~1 min

Level

beginner

This lesson

This lesson teaches Paths in Bash: the syntax, patterns, and safety habits you need before advancing in Bash.

Teams still ship Paths in Bash in Bash codebases—skipping it leaves gaps in debugging and code reviews.

You will apply Paths in Bash in contexts like: CI jobs, server maintenance, local dev automation, and Git hooks.

Read each lesson, copy bash examples into your own terminal, and complete the lesson MCQs—there is no in-browser runner for security reasons.

When you can explain the previous lesson's ideas without copying starter code.

Paths describe file locations. Bash distinguishes absolute paths (starting with /) and relative paths (from the current directory).

Navigation

pwd
cd /tmp
pwd
cd -
pwd

cd - jumps to the previous directory—handy when toggling between project roots.

cd ~
echo "$HOME"
cd .
cd ..
pwd
ls -la .

. is current directory; .. is parent; ~ expands to home.

path="/var/log/system.log"
echo "dir: $(dirname "$path")"
echo "file: $(basename "$path")"

Quote variables so paths with spaces survive word splitting.

Q: Absolute vs relative?
A: Absolute starts at filesystem root; relative starts from current working directory.
Q: Why quote $path?
A: Spaces or glob characters in paths break unquoted expansions.

Tip: Quote paths: cd "$dir"—spaces in filenames break unquoted expansions.

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