7

I know I can run a program in the background using &. 

command &

However, I want to run multiple commands, and cd into a different directory while they are running.
The multiple commands will still rely on the directory I was previously in.

I've tried the following, but it only runs the last command in the background:

command1 && command2 &

Doing this gives a parse error: 

command1 & && command2 &

It's important that command1 finishes before command2,
so I don't think the following would guarantee that: 

 command1 &; command2 &;

I'm not tied to any specific shell.

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3
  • Note that ; isn't needed after &, it can separate commands itself: command1 & command2. – choroba May 4 '16 at 14:59
  • @choroba Not just not needed, it's a syntax error (in bash and most other shells): there needs to be a command before ; – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' May 4 '16 at 22:59
  • If you need to do that in a bash script, use the method suggested here: stackoverflow.com/a/62832235/1423806 – Bemipefe Jul 10 '20 at 10:25
11

(command1; command2)& - should do it, works in bash.

This creates a subshell (the two parenthesis) and runs the whole subshell in the background.

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1
  • 4
    Or { command1; command2; } & — running a command in the background already creates a subshell so using (…) instead of { … } is redundant. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' May 4 '16 at 22:57

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