New svn repository script

Question

This is my very first Bash script that does something real. I'm here to learn, so please tell me if and how this can be done better.

#!/bin/sh
# Daniele Brugnara
# October - 2013
if [ -k 1ドル ]; then
 echo "Error! You must pass a repository name!"
 exit 1
fi
SVN_PATH="/var/lib/svn"
currPath=$(pwd)
cd $SVN_PATH
svnadmin create 1ドル
chown -R www-data:www-data 1ドル
cd $currPath
echo "Done! Remember to set valid user permission in authz file."

Answer 1

1. If the first argument to your script contains a space, then you get an error message:

   $ ./cr32076.sh "my repository"
   ./cr32076.sh: line 6: [: my: binary operator expected
   

   To avoid this, put quotes around the variable 1ドル, like this:

   if [ -k "1ドル" ]; then
   

2. The man page for [ says:

   -k file True if file exists and its sticky bit is set.
   

   is this really what you mean? It seems more likely that you want the -z option:

   -z string True if the length of string is zero.
   

3. You remember the current directory in a variable:

   currPath=$(pwd)
   

   and then later change to it:

   cd $currPath
   

   but this will go wrong if the current directory has a space in its name:

   $ pwd
   /Users/gdr/some directory
   $ currPath=$(pwd)
   $ cd $currPath
   bash: cd: /Users/gdr/some: No such file or directory
   

   To avoid this, put quotes around the variable, like this:

   cd "$currPath"
   

4. If you want to change directory temporarily and change back again, then instead of writing

   currPath=$(pwd) # remember old directory
   cd "$SVN_PATH" # change to new directory
   # do some stuff
   cd "$currPath" # go back to old directory
   

   you can use a subshell:

   (
    cd "$SVN_PATH" # change to new directory
    # do some stuff 
   ) # old directory is automatically restored when subshell exits
   

   But in this script, there's no need to change directory back again, because after you go back all you do is echo "Done! ..." and it doesn't matter what directory you do that in.

5. In fact, there's no need to change directory at all, because instead of

   SVN_PATH="/var/lib/svn"
   currPath=$(pwd)
   cd "$SVN_PATH"
   svnadmin create "1ドル"
   chown -R www-data:www-data "1ドル"
   cd "$currPath"
   

   you could write

   SVN_PATH="/var/lib/svn/1ドル"
   svnadmin create "$SVN_PATH"
   chown -R www-data:www-data "$SVN_PATH"