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This article discusses different ways to include a Bash script file into another script file.

Including files in Bash scripts

Including or reusing scripts in Bash is very simple. The source keyword is similar to that in C/C++ #include.

To reuse a script, use the source keyword with the name/full path to the file, depending on whether you are importing the script from the same directory or from another directory.

Typically, the syntax is as follows:

source <filename>

Assume we have a script named sorting.sh with the following content.

TEST_VAR="Hello"

The syntax is as follows.

Bash Script:

#!/bin/bash
source sorting.sh
echo ${TEST_VAR}

The alternative .operator is a shorthand for the source keyword and works similarly.

Bash Writer:

#!/bin/bash
sorting.sh
echo ${TEST_VAR}

Both of the above examples will return the following output.

Output:

Hello

请注意The operator is POSIX compliant, while the source keyword is not. This means that .the operator will work in all POSIX shell environments, while source may not work, but in the context of Bash, it is perfectly safe to use the source keyword.

Another point to note is sourcethat works includedifferently than in C/C++ in that it will execute the complete source script within the target script rather than calling and executing separate functions individually.

The safest way to use a script within another script is to use the following script which will work for all levels of directories and will not cause errors due to directories being different or at different levels.

Bash Writer:

$(dirname "$0")/sorting.sh