Shell script can be run only with sh command
I can't tell for sure but it looks like you have a typo on the first line where there's a stray *
over to the right.
#!/bin/sh *
^^^ Scroll over to the right to see it.
Example
$ cat script.bash
#!/bin/sh *
echo hi
Run directly:
$ ./script.bash
/bin/sh: *: No such file or directory
Run via sh
:
$ sh script.bash
hi
General advice
It's generally advisable to use the exact shell you're expecting with your shebang. If you suspect that you're running into problems where you suspect dash
or some other shell is being used, you can always make your shebang explicit by changing it from #!/bin/sh
as your shebang #!/bin/bash
.
The above is based on your comment below:
but now I think it is a problem with the script itself or with dash.
The error
can't open *
is preventing the script from running correctly when run byrun-parts
. Why is this error occurring?
When you execute a file1 that is not a binary executable,
but is a text file with a shebang
(the first line of the file begins with #!
),
the kernel (with no help from any shell) builds a command
that is the shebang line (the part after the #!
)
followed by the original, user-level command line.
For example, if doc-script
begins
#!/bin/sh -x
and it is invoked
./doc-script bashful dopey
then the kernel builds and executes the following command:
/bin/sh -x ./doc-script bashful dopey
which causes the shell to read and interpret the doc-script
script,
with the xtrace (-x
) option set,
and with $1
= bashful
and $2
= dopey
.
(Naturally, $0
is ./doc-script
.)
If the original user-supplied command is
./doc-script b* ??p* [ghs]*
then the shell that handles that command (for simplicity, let’s assume that that is the interactive shell running on the user’s terminal) might expand this to
./doc-script bashful dopey grumpy happy sleepy sneezy
and so the kernel builds and executes the following command:
/bin/sh -x ./doc-script bashful dopey grumpy happy sleepy sneezy
But remember: the processing of the shebang line is done by the kernel, not by the shell. Therefore, if the shebang is
#!/bin/sh *
then the final, constructed command is
/bin/sh * ./doc-script bashful dopey grumpy happy sleepy sneezy
because glob expansion doesn’t happen here. As far as the shell is concerned, this looks like the user typed
/bin/sh '*' ./doc-script bashful dopey grumpy happy sleepy sneezy
and, because *
doesn’t begin with -
,
the shell interprets it as a filename,
so it tries to run a script called *
with $0
= *
,
$1
= ./doc-script
, $2
= bashful
, $3
= dopey
, etc.
And, since there is no script called *
, this fails.
__________
1 I am assuming that the process
has the permissions necessary to execute the file.