A procedure for getting the resolved absolute path of current file and its containing directory

resolve_current_file_and_dir.sh

#!/bin/sh

CWD=`pwd -P`
TARGET_FILE=$0

cd `dirname $TARGET_FILE`
TARGET_FILE=`basename $TARGET_FILE`

# iterate down a (possible) chain of symlinks
while [ -L "$TARGET_FILE" ]
do
    TARGET_FILE=`readlink $TARGET_FILE`
    cd `dirname $TARGET_FILE`
    TARGET_FILE=`basename $TARGET_FILE`
done

# compute the canonicalized name by finding the physical path
BASE=`pwd -P`

# cd back to the original working directory
cd $CWD