I have been trying to search for a file which contains a specific pattern. The pattern is itself in a variable tmpfl
echo $tmpfl --> ack_2*
Now to find for the file in the current working directory itself I have been trying to use
find . -name $tmpfl
find . -name ($tmpfl)
but none of them seem to work . Though
find . -name ack_2*
works like a charm .
What is wrong in the approach ? It's simple variable substitution in Unix , right ? So what am I missing ?
You need to put "" around your variable.
find . -name "$tmpfl"
find -name $tmpfl works for me.
– Arkadiusz Drabczyk
Nov 24 '14 at 13:17
$IFS happens to contain space) to be invoked upon the expansion (in list contexts). In this case though, find . -name $tmpfl with the default value of IFS and tmpl containing act2_* would be equally wrong as find . -name act2_* as that glob would (could) be expanded in both cases.
– Stéphane Chazelas
Nov 24 '14 at 13:49
I have found there are certain situations (besides whitespace or unprintable characters) that require the double quotes around the -name parameter, regardless of whether the parameter is a variable or a hard-coded value. Always good to get in the habit of using them.
