How to touch a file and mkdir, if necessary, in one line

Question

I need to touch a file with an absolute file name, for example: /opt/test/test.txt, but I'm not sure if / opt / test exists on the system. So the code should be similar to this:

if (-d '/opt/test') { touch '/opt/test/test.txt'; } else { mkdir -p '/opt/test'; touch '/opt/test/test.txt' } 

Is there a better way to simplify the code? I hope that there are some system commands that can do the same job with only one line.

Answer 1

In perl, using one of my favorite modules: Path :: Tiny .

 path("/opt/test/test.txt")->touchpath; 

From the doc:

Combines mkpath and touch. Creates a parent directory if it does not exist before touching the file.

Answer 2

In a shell script, you can simply:

 mkdir -p /opt/test && touch /opt/test/test.txt 

mkdir -p will not work (and will not do anything) if the directory already exists.

In perl, use make_path from the File::Path module, then create the file make_path you want. make_path also does nothing if the directory already exists, so you don't need to check yourself.

Answer 3

Perl from the command line

 perl -MFile::Basename -MFile::Path=make_path -e' make_path(dirname($_)), open(F, ">>", $_) for pop; ' /opt/test/test.txt 

Answer 4

 mkdir B && touch B/myfile.txt 

Alternatively, create a function:

  mkfile() { mkdir -p $( dirname "$1") && touch "$1" } 

Run it with 1 argument: file path. Saying:

 mkfile B/C/D/myfile.txt 

will create the myfile.txt file in the B / C / D directory.

Answer 5

I defined a touchp in my ~/.bash_aliases :

 function touchp() { /bin/mkdir -p "$(dirname "$1")/" && /usr/bin/touch "$1" } 

It silently creates a structure over a file if it is missing, and is completely safe to use when transferring a single file name without any directory in front of it.

Answer 6

I like to print very little, so I put this command in the name fn in my .profile, but I used this wording for many years before I did this:

mkdir -p dirname/sub/dir && touch $_/filename.ext

The $_ variable holds the last argument of the previous command. It’s pretty convenient to know about the general.

Answer 7

Connect Python to the command line.

i.e. Use pyp

  cat filepaths.txt | pyp "'mkdir -p '+s[0:-1]|s+'; touch '+o" | sh 

The Pyed Piper ", or pyp, is a linux command line command-line tool like awk or sed, but which uses standard python string and list methods, as well as custom functions designed to quickly get results in an intensive production environment.

Answer 8

I have this shell function in my .zshalias file:

 function touch-safe { for f in " $@ "; do [ -d $f:h ] || mkdir -p $f:h && command touch $f done } alias touch=touch-safe 

If test or the mkdir command is not mkdir , no touch command is invoked.