$ for i in a b c; do cd $i; echo "DIR: `pwd`"; ls -l; cd ..; done DIR: /home/ken/tmp/pm_11135362/a total 1 -rw-r--r-- 1 ken None 0 Jul 25 16:44 empty ---------- 1 ken None 18 Jul 25 16:45 no_access DIR: /home/ken/tmp/pm_11135362/b total 1 -r--r--r-- 1 ken None 20 Jul 25 16:49 read_only DIR: /home/ken/tmp/pm_11135362/c total 1 -rw-r--r-- 1 ken None 7 Jul 25 16:51 read_write