pathchk

pathchk [-p] [-P] pathname...

pathchk checks pathnames for validity and portability. It identifies names that may cause problems on other systems.Default checking verifies the path is valid on the current system: proper length, valid characters, and accessible parent directories.POSIX portability mode (-p) enforces stricter limits. It checks for characters valid on all POSIX systems and limits component lengths to 14 characters (the historical minimum).The -P option adds checks for empty path components and names starting with hyphens, which can cause problems with command arguments.Exit code 0 means all paths passed checks. Non-zero indicates problems were found, with error messages describing issues.The tool helps ensure scripts and archives work across different Unix systems without pathname-related failures.

-p

Check against POSIX portable filename character set and minimum path length limits (14-character component limit).

Check for empty names and leading dashes.

Check for portability to all POSIX systems (equivalent to -p -P).

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Portability mode is conservative. Modern systems accept longer names. Some checks may be overly strict for single-system use.

pathchk is part of GNU coreutils and specified by POSIX. It provides a standard way to validate pathnames for cross-platform scripts and utilities.

basename(1), dirname(1), realpath(1)