Bash script to create a directory

I'm messing around with scripting, I am able to create a script which when run prompts me for a name for a new dir, creates it then creates several files, echoes lines out, then deletes it all.

What I would like to do is morph it slightly so it creates and names the directory all by itself!

Seems a pointless exercise I know, but messing around with it is the best way I learn.

Here is my current script:

#!/bin/bash   
echo "Give a directory name to create:"    
read NEW_DIR    
ORIG_DIR=$(pwd)    
[[ -d $NEW_DIR ]] && echo $NEW_DIR already exists, aborting && exit    
mkdir  $NEW_DIR    
cd $NEW_DIR    
pwd    
for n in 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0    
do        
touch file$n    
done

ls file?    

for names in file?    
do       
echo This file is named $names > $names    
done

cat file?

cd $ORIG_DIR

rm -rf $NEW_DIR

echo "Goodbye"

Solution 1:

Instead of using the read command in order to get the value ofNEW_DIR from the input, You can set hard-coded value for the NEW_DIR variable in the following way:

replace the following line in your script:

read NEW_DIR    

with the following line:

NEW_DIR="new_dir_hard_coded_value"

Link for more info about bash-scripting-tutorial/bash-variables

Solution 2:

If you want a surprise, instead of hardcoding the name you could use a technique to generate a random string, for example

NEW_DIR=$(tr -cd '[:alnum:]' < /dev/urandom | fold -w8 | head -n1)

This sets NEW_DIR to a string of eight alphanumeric characters. Every time you run the script, the new directory will have a different random name...

Or to get a random word, pick a dictionary from /usr/share/dict/ and use shuf, for example:

$ shuf -n1 /usr/share/dict/british-english
soupier
$ shuf -n1 /usr/share/dict/british-english
penguins

So

NEW_DIR=$(shuf -n1 /usr/share/dict/british-english)
mkdir "$NEW_DIR"
...