#!/bin/bash # both $1 and $2 are absolute paths (biginning with /) # returns $2 relative to $1 source=$1 target=$2 common_part=$source # for now result="" # for now while [[ "${target#$common_part}" == "${target}" ]]; do # no match, means that candidate common part is not correct # go up one level (reduce common part) common_part="$(dirname $common_part)" # and record that we went back, with correct / handling if [[ -z $result ]]; then result=".." else result="../$result" fi done if [[ $common_part == "/" ]]; then # special case for root (no common path) result="$result/" fi # since we now have identified the common part, # compute the non-common part forward_part="${target#$common_part}" # and now stick all parts together if [[ -n $result ]] && [[ -n $forward_part ]]; then result="$result$forward_part" elif [[ -n $forward_part ]]; then # extra slash removal result="${forward_part:1}" fi echo $result