How do I execute a bash script in Terminal?

Yet another way to execute it (this time without setting execute permissions):

bash /path/to/scriptname

answered Feb 1, 2010 at 17:30 Dennis Williamson Dennis Williamson 357k 93 93 gold badges 379 379 silver badges 442 442 bronze badges

had a seperate issue (trying to install anaconda via terminal on mac) and this was the solution. only thing I had to do was close and restart the shell, follow the one step here ( /(your conda installation path)/bin/conda init zsh ) and then close and reopen the shell one more time

Commented Jul 20, 2022 at 16:43 Excuse my ignorance but what's the difference between using and not using bash before the path? Commented Apr 4 at 10:54

@AlexD: If the script is not both marked as executable (e.g. chmod +x ) and has a shebang (e.g. the first line is similar to #!/bin/bash ) then the interpreter needs to be specified. Thus bash (or another interpreter) is used.

Commented Apr 4 at 12:57

$prompt: /path/to/script and hit enter. Note you need to make sure the script has execute permissions.

50.7k 19 19 gold badges 125 125 silver badges 125 125 bronze badges answered Feb 1, 2010 at 15:53 prodigitalson prodigitalson 60.3k 10 10 gold badges 103 103 silver badges 115 115 bronze badges

If you already are in the /path/to directory, e.g. with the cd /path/to command, you can enter ./script to run your script.Don't forget, in this case the './' before 'script'

Commented Dec 28, 2019 at 10:59

cd to the directory that contains the script, or put it in a bin folder that is in your $PATH

./scriptname.sh

if in the same directory or

scriptname.sh

if it's in the bin folder.

answered Feb 1, 2010 at 15:52 John Boker John Boker 83.4k 17 17 gold badges 100 100 silver badges 130 130 bronze badges This will only work if the script has the execute bit set. That probably needs to be addressed. Commented Feb 1, 2010 at 16:15

./scriptname.sh works for me but scriptname.sh gives scriptname.sh: command not found . -rwxr-xr-x are its permissions.

Commented Apr 21, 2017 at 12:24

The advice to cd anywhere at all perpetrates another common beginner misunderstanding. Unless the script internally has dependencies which require it to run in a particular directory (like, needing to read a data file which the script inexplicably doesn't provide an option to point to) you should never need to cd anywhere to run it, and very often will not want to.

Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 15:55

This is an old thread, but I happened across it and I'm surprised nobody has put up a complete answer yet. So here goes.

The Executing a Command Line Script Tutorial!

Q: How do I execute this in Terminal?

The answer is below, but first . if you are asking this question, here are a few other tidbits to help you on your way:

Confusions and Conflicts:

The Path

Understanding The Path (added by tripleee for completeness) is important. The "path" sounds like a Zen-like hacker koan or something, but it is simply a list of directories (folders) that are searched automatically when an unknown command is typed in at the command prompt. Some commands, like ls may be built-in's, but most commands are actually separate small programs. (This is where the "Zen of Unix" comes in . "(i) Make each program do one thing well.")

Extensions

Unlike the old DOS command prompts that a lot of people remember, you do not need an 'extension' (like .sh or .py or anything else), but it helps to keep track of things. It is really only there for humans to use as a reference and most command lines and programs will not care in the least. It won't hurt. If the script name contains an extension, however, you must use it. It is part of the filename.

Changing directories

You do not need to be in any certain directory at all for any reason. But if the directory is not on the path (type echo $PATH to see), then you must include it. If you want to run a script from the current directory, use ./ before it. This ./ thing means 'here in the current directory.'

Typing the program name

You do not need to type out the name of the program that runs the file (BASH or Python or whatever) unless you want to. It won't hurt, but there are a few times when you may get slightly different results.

SUDO

You do not need sudo to do any of this. This command is reserved for running commands as another user or a 'root' (administrator) user. Running scripts with sudo allows much greater danger of screwing things up. So if you don't know the exact reason for using sudo , don't use it. Great post here.

Script location .

A good place to put your scripts is in your ~/bin folder.
You can get there by typing

# A good place to put your scripts is in your ~/bin folder. > cd ~/bin # or cd $HOME/bin > ls -l

You will see a listing with owners and permissions. You will notice that you 'own' all of the files in this directory. You have full control over this directory and nobody else can easily modify it.

If it does not exist, you can create one:

> mkdir -p ~/bin && cd ~/bin > pwd /Users/Userxxxx/bin

A: To "execute this script" from the terminal on a Unix/Linux type system, you have to do three things:

1. Tell the system the location of the script. (pick one)

# type the name of the script with the full path > /path/to/script.sh # execute the script from the directory it is in > ./script.sh # place the script in a directory that is on the PATH > script.sh # . to see the list of directories in the path, use: > echo $PATH /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin # . or for a list that is easier to read: > echo -e $ # or > printf "%b" "$" /usr/local/sbin /usr/local/bin /usr/sbin /usr/bin /sbin /bin

2. Tell the system that the script has permission to execute. (pick one)

# set the 'execute' permissions on the script > chmod +x /path/to/script.sh # using specific permissions instead # FYI, this makes these scripts inaccessible by ANYONE but an administrator > chmod 700 /path/to/script.sh # set all files in your script directory to execute permissions > chmod +x ~/bin/*

There is a great discussion of permissions with a cool chart here.

3. Tell the system the type of script. (pick one)

Type the name of the program before the script. (Note: when using this method, the execute(chmod thing above) is not required

> bash /path/to/script.sh . > php /path/to/script.php . > python3 /path/to/script.py .

Use a shebang, which I see you have ( #!/bin/bash ) in your example. If you have that as the first line of your script, the system will use that program to execute the script. No need for typing programs or using extensions.
Use a "portable" shebang. You can also have the system choose the version of the program that is first in the PATH by using #!/usr/bin/env followed by the program name (e.g. #!/usr/bin/env bash or #!/usr/bin/env python3 ). There are pros and cons as thoroughly discussed here.

Note: This "portable" shebang may not be as portable as it seems. As with anything over 50 years old and steeped in numerous options that never work out quite the way you expect them . there is a heated debate. The most recent one I saw that is actually quite different from most ideas is the "portable" perl-bang:

#!/bin/sh exec perl -x "$0" "$@" #!perl