unzip script unix [closed]

Question

I am a new user to unix that is trying to do a simple script in bash that will unzip several files in the location that I list. I can't figure out why it keeps crashing. I'm inserting the script below. I hope to later move the old .tar.7z zipped files into another directory (hence my creating the new directory in the script below), but I am just trying to get the main part working first.

#!~/bash
# My program to try to unzip several files with ending of tar.7z
# I have inserted the ability to enter the directory where you want this to be done 

echo "What file location is required for unzipping?"

read dirloc

cd $dirloc
mkdir oldzippedfiles
for directory in $dirloc
        do
                if
                [ $directory=*.tar.7z ]
                then
                cat $directory | 7za x -an -txz -si -so | tar -xf -
        fi
        done

echo "unzipping of file is complete"

exit 0

Answer 1

There are a lot of errors in your script:

1. #!~/bash won't work since it's bash that expands ~ to your home directory. You have to specify the full path to bash (usually /bin/bash).

2. for directory in $dirloc won't work because of two reasons:

   • To go through the files inside $dirloc, you'd need $dirloc/*.

   • You already changed directories, so it has to be plain *.

   Also, since you're looping through files, I suggest renaming your variable.

3. test ([) doesn't support glob matching.

   Use for file in *.tar.7z instead.

4. There is no need to use cat. It makes things more difficult, since 7zip can't guess the archive format from the extension. -txz won't work, unless you actually created an .xz file fith a .7z extension (bad practice).

   Use 7za a -so $directory instead.

5. I'm not sure what the -an switch is supposed to do, but it throws errors and I'm pretty certain it's not needed.

A working version of your script should look like this:

#!/bin/bash

read dirloc

cd $dirloc

for file in *.tar.7z
        do
                7za x -so $file | tar -xf -
        done