cp: command not found

Question

I am trying to copy one file to other directory and getting error message while interrupt is called.

The Script :

#!/bin/bash


PATH=~/MkFile/

exitfn () {
    trap SIGINT              # Resore signal handling for SIGINT
        echo ; echo 'Called ctrl + c '    # Growl at user,

        cp ./BKP/temp.txt $PATH/backup.txt
            exit                     #   then exit script.
}

trap "exitfn" INT            # Set up SIGINT trap to call function.ii



    read -p "What? "

    echo "You said: $REPLY"
# reset all traps## 


    trap - 0 SIGINT

Output :

./signal.sh
What? ^C
Called ctrl + c
./signal.sh: line 9: cp: command not found

Do you have idea what is wrong in this script ??

I believe you don't need to modify `PATH` in your script. Why are you touching `PATH` ??? — Basile Starynkevitch, Aug 13 '14 at 08:57

score 20 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 13 '14 at 12:49

You modified your PATH variable that's why. Perhaps you just want to add another path to it:

PATH=$PATH:~/MkFile/

Or if in Bash, simply use the append operator:

PATH+=:~/MkFile/

Come to think of it, I don't think you actually want to use the PATH variable. Just use another parameter name instead:

DIR=~/MkFile/

And some would recommend just using lowercase letters to avoid conflict with builtin shell variables:

path=~/MkFile/

From the manual:

PATH    A colon-separated list of directories in which the shell looks for
        commands.  A zero-length (null) directory name in the value of PATH
        indicates the current directory. A null directory name may appear
        as two adjacent colons, or as an initial or trailing colon.

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 13 '14 at 09:04

In Linux, $PATH is an environmental variable that holds the directories to search for executable files (see for example http://www.linfo.org/path_env_var.html).

I don't really know if your purpose is to change the PATH variable. If it is you should follow the konsolebox answer, but if not, you should avoid the use of environmental variables as variables in your script. Try using instead:

path=~/MkFile/

or

MYPATH=~/MkFile/

cp: command not found

2 Answers2