Hi all,

I need a good explanation for why the ./ command is used when running scripts etc in unix - struggling to find anything on the web - can anyone explain it??

thanks

AP

 

It is because all good unix boys have beards and wear sandals

 

yeh but Id rather have a beard and sandals than be affraid of a command prompt

 

 

used to point to the directory where the script is installed i.e. ./ = current directory

 

Hello

Unix looks through the path to find the command. So if your current directory ( . ) is not there it wont find the command. Or worse will find a command that is not the one you want.

So ./command insures that you are running the one in the current directory and MUST be used if the path does not contain the current directory.

Steve.

 

Ditto what boxst said

 

yup - as above!

 

as above, i can confirm this because i've been playing with unix for a few months now..

 

Hello

And I don't wear sandals......... !

Steve.

 

no sandals.. but I do have a small beard.. doh!

 

I'm sure I've seen you in sandels before Alex

!!!!!!!! GEEK ALERT GEEK ALERT GEEK ALERT !!!!!!!!

 

soon to be uber geek, if next weeks interview goes well

 

Good luck mate!

 

As mentioned, it isn't necessary if you add "." (the current directory) to the path.

By default, . isn't in the path and this can be very useful sometimes...

 

I wouldn't, . in $PATH is bad, google for why

 

ooh, DrEvil in UberGeek, cool, that a new Austin movie?

 

Agree with stevencotton. Put explicit paths in $PATH not .

Dave

 

'cos if someone writes a program called ls (for instance) that does something nice and malicious, and dumps it somewhere, if you're in that somewhere, have . in your path, there's a good chance you'll run that malicious ls instead of /bin/ls

If you're root.... 'ls' could give root permissions to another user, then invoke the real ls (of course) so as not to raise suspicion.