Get the parent directory of a given file

Assuming

$ file=./Tools/build.bat

With a POSIX compatible shell (including zsh):

$ echo "${file%/*}"
./Tools

With dirname:

$ echo "$(dirname -- "$file")"
./Tools

(at least GNU dirname takes options, so the -- is required in case the path starts with a dash.)

If you are using zsh try :h modifier

cd $file:h

You can add n of them to go n levels up in directory structure.

this is quite simple with the command dirname, just do the folowing:

cd "$(dirname -- "$file")"

now you can even go further on this

file=/home/switch87/.bashrc
cd "$(dirname -- "$file")"
cd "$(dirname -- "$file")"/..

first cd will get you to /home/switch87, the seccond to /home

Related