Questions tagged [quoting]
Strings are typically delimited by quotes, which raises the problem of dealing with strings that include quotes.
2
votes
1answer
56 views
How to render variables without quotes in bash script?
The following script:
$ cat runme01.sh
#!/bin/bash
A=myval
B=$A/{fix}
C=$A/fix
set -xT
echo $B
echo $C
prints the following if ran:
$ ./runme01.sh
+ echo 'myval/{fix}'
myval/{fix}
+ echo myval/...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
Is `echo $TEST` expanding an asterisk in the variable a bug? [duplicate]
Is this a Bash bug?
$ mkdir test && cd test && echo "a" > "some.file"
test$ echo '*'
*
test$ TEST=$(echo '*')
test$ echo $TEST
some.file
Why is the second output the resolution of ...
4
votes
2answers
165 views
Use backslash or single-quotes for field separation
I have always been using single-quotes for the field separation like: awk -F';' ...
Quite new to me is the way of using a backslash like: awk -F\; ...
is there a technical difference for either, or ...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
add a line to file that contains quotes and variable using bash
I want to add this line to /etc/grub.d/00_header
set superusers="ubuntu"
where ubuntu is the result of $USER.
I've tried this:
sudo bash -c 'echo "set superusers='"${USER}"'" >> /etc/grub.d/...
1
vote
1answer
41 views
Command runs okay but not from bash script
Under ~/Pictures there are some sub-directories containing jpegs like
~/Pictures/Pics 1/img.jpg.
From bash:
~/Pictures $ `file Pics\ 1/img.jpg`
Output:
Pics 1/img.jpg: JPEG image data, Exif ...
0
votes
2answers
76 views
Run ssh command without quotes
You can execute a command on a remote server using
ssh user@host 'the command'
but is there a way to execute the command without quotes?
(I am on BSD and using OpenSSH)
2
votes
1answer
43 views
Why I have to not quote a string variable in this specific case?
My Ubuntu/Debian-based Linux update POSIX shell script seems to require me not to double quote the string variable with the stored command, which is being executed. As I don't understand this issue, I'...
0
votes
0answers
26 views
Why does single quotes around arguments fail to prevent “syntax error near unexpected token '('”? [duplicate]
I read that surrounding command line arguments with single quotes is necessary when the command line argument is a string that contains parentheses. However using single quotes around the following ...
2
votes
4answers
104 views
Correctly quote array that is being passed indirectly via another command
I need to pass an array of filenames to a command, preserving proper quoting. So far, so good. Unfortunately the command is actually a sub-command that is, in turn, invoked by another command. ...
0
votes
1answer
54 views
Running command in a variable [duplicate]
It is often said that variables should be double quoted when used.
In the following example I want to have the command echo "You can't see me" in a variable and run it in such a way that the output ...
3
votes
1answer
200 views
dash: why am I getting the error “Syntax error: EOF in backquote substitution” when my script doesn't even contain a backquote?
#!/bin/sh --
for set_trap_sig in HUP INT QUIT ALRM TERM; do
trap -- '
trap -- - '"${set_trap_sig:?}"' EXIT || exit "$?"
kill -s '"${set_trap_sig:?}"' -- "$$" || exit "$?"' "$...
2
votes
1answer
81 views
“cp: target '…’ is not a directory” during while loop
I have a directory of files whose names I want to shorten:
(3) andrew@andrew Learning_Plans $ ls -al
total 580
drwxr-xr-x 2 andrew andrew 4096 Apr 10 21:40 .
drwxr-xr-x 7 andrew andrew 4096 Apr 10 ...
0
votes
1answer
28 views
Construction an a command line bash script with spaces in path names [duplicate]
I need a simple script to call gcc but I've got a long list of libraries that I need to pass to it in a directory who's path has a space on it.
In place of gcc for testing my script I've used:
#!/...
0
votes
2answers
44 views
Quoting inside “sh -c” with double quotes
I'm trying to make this quoting work, but no success :
export perl_script='$| = 1;s/\n/\r/g if $_ =~ /^AV:/;s/Saving state/\nSaving state/'
mpv="command mpv"
mpvOptions='--geometry 0%:100%'
args=("$@"...
1
vote
1answer
49 views
Convert JSON with raw characters in string
Had a problem with a tool that was generating illegal JSON.
Some of the JSON strings contained characters in the range 00-1f. So I wanted to convert these characters to correctly escaped valued \...
0
votes
3answers
217 views
How to prevent parameter expansion around a variable I want to be resolved?
Edit:
Important note before reading further: since Kusalananda's anwser, my question is now quite useless, since he pointed out a bug in another script I used. Now this bug is fixed, the below errors ...
3
votes
0answers
55 views
I can see but cannot delete a file [closed]
I am running Linux Mint.I tried to copy a file with the file manager. It looked like it hung.
I can see the file in the directory with ls -l:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 mike domain^users 20 Mar 1 08:57 'output (...
0
votes
0answers
16 views
How do you escape “-” in a command in the Shell (Zsh)? [duplicate]
I am trying to rename a file named "-a" to "a" using the command line (zsh shell). I have tried the following
mv \-a "a"
mv '\-a' "a"
mv "\-a" "a"
but got
mv: illegal option -- a
usage: mv [-f | -...
44
votes
1answer
3k views
What is the difference between “…”, '…', $'…', and $“…” quotes?
Sometimes I see scripts use all of these different ways of quoting some text: "...", '...', $'...', and $"...". Why are there so many different kinds of quote being used?
Do they behave differently ...
1
vote
1answer
39 views
I have a pipe separated file,read file row wise and search for unclosed quotes(") in each row and close that
Below is a row and i need to close "20 with "20"
2019-02-15T10:25:19+0100|ttt|werewrw|erewr|fddsfsdf|dfsdf|07|2ee7|1b65d04|"20|19|-02-|15t10:03|45435435|765767||SIP;rr=200;text="hyt"|
0
votes
3answers
62 views
Which quoting style GNU Bash variable definitions (mostly for paths)? [closed]
Which of the following quoting styles, for GNU Bash variables, is preferred and why?
Two double quotes: VAR="/path/$V1/path with space/$V2".
Multiple double quotes: VAR=/path/"$V1"/"path with space"/"...
23
votes
5answers
2k views
Why use double quotes in a [[ ]] test?
Let's say we have 2 integers in a bash script:
value1=5
value2=3
Then why do we need to use double quotes in case of a test ? For example:
if [[ "$value1" -eq "$value2" ]]
Why not just use the ...
2
votes
3answers
643 views
Why can I not access a file named `-` when quoting? [duplicate]
I have a file called -.
I want to display its contents.
One way is to do
cat ./-
since cat - reads from standard input. However, why are cat "-" and cat '-' also interpreted by the shell as cat -?
6
votes
1answer
460 views
Why does scp's strict filename checking reject quoted last component but not others?
When I try to scp a file with a slash in its path, the path is quoted for the local host, and the last path component is additionally quoted for the remote host, like scp host:"a/b/'c'" ., it fails ...
-1
votes
1answer
49 views
Why did Debian use the typewriter apostrophe (') instead of the closed curve quote (’) [closed]
I have been using Debian for quite a few years. Every now and then, when I write or read something I find it confusing what an author meant by it. I had a look at the wikipedia page, as well as this ...
0
votes
1answer
498 views
Kill remote process via ssh
I have a process that I want to kill remotely. I tried
ssh remotehost "kill -9 $(ps -aux | grep foo | grep bar | awk '{print $2}')"
but this returns the error
kill: usage: kill [-s sigspec | -n ...
3
votes
1answer
71 views
Commands Differences Using Quotations (Find)
I was reading the man page of find and I found myself confused with the following commands. What is the difference between one and its corresponding one.
What is the difference between the following ...
0
votes
2answers
86 views
Is the behavior of escaping special characters inside double-quotes in mainstream POSIX-compliant shells at odds with POSIX?
Per the POSIX Shell Command Language Page:
\
The <backslash> shall retain its special meaning as an escape character (see Escape Character (Backslash)) only when followed by one of the ...
3
votes
3answers
157 views
POSIX Shell: inside of double-quotes, are there cases where `\` fails to escape `$`, ```, `"`, `\` or `<newline>`?
Per the POSIX Shell Command Language Page:
\
The <backslash> shall retain its special meaning as an escape character (see Escape Character (Backslash)) only when followed by one of the ...
1
vote
1answer
52 views
Prevent quote expansion in user-made function [duplicate]
I have the following bash function :
tg() {
git add -A && git commit -m $1 && git push
}
But it seems not to work :
$ tg "create index for users"
error: pathspec 'index' did not ...
0
votes
0answers
13 views
Interaction of sed and for loop [duplicate]
for i in {1..25}; do cat file$((i)) | sed 's/.*/$((i))/'; done
doesn't print the current value of i but just $((i)). How can I make it print the value of i instead?
9
votes
2answers
397 views
How to create alias with a command contains ' and "
A few posts ago someone asked how to show memory in percentage. Someone replied with:
free | awk '/^Mem/ { printf("free: %.2f %\n", $4/$2 * 100.0) }'
I was wondering if I can turn this command into ...
0
votes
1answer
56 views
Can I put a single quote in a user's password
I was wondering if there would be any issue with placing a single quote in a ubuntu user's password. We have a couple machines with a dummy user for automation purposes and I would like the password ...
1
vote
1answer
452 views
Cannot rm or cp files with a wildcard in name [duplicate]
I have a line like this in my script:
rm "$TEMP_DIR/*.txt"
It fails with this output:
rm: cannot remove 'temp/*.txt': No such file or directory
I don't understand why doesn't that work. What am I ...
-5
votes
2answers
77 views
Does process substitution need to be double quoted?
Double quoting command substitution is a good practice. Is it the same for process substitution (<() and >())?
It seems double quotes allow command substitution, but disallow process ...
-2
votes
1answer
71 views
Shell script with password that starts with ( [closed]
I have a shell script that opens ftp, then passes on the user ID and password. The password starts with ( and the server does not like it. It errors outs with a failure to log in message. How can I ...
0
votes
3answers
216 views
Why does double quoting an array expansion in here document not seem to work here?
I have two arrays
$ arr1=( 1 2 2 3)
$ arr2=( 2 3 3 4)
Why does this generate strange output when I follow the good practice of double quoting an array expansion
$ tsort << EOF
> "${arr1[@]}...
-2
votes
1answer
306 views
Quotes don't work anymore with: git commit -m “My commit message” [closed]
I am not sure what is going wrong (terminal, shell, system?), but when I enter:
git commit -m "My commit message"
this morning, I get:
error: pathspec 'My' did not match any file(s) known to git
...
0
votes
1answer
44 views
complicated command replace in files using sed [duplicate]
I want to replace the below strings
replace: print 'Status Code: {code}'.format(code=r.status_code)
with: print('Status Code: {code}'.format(code=r.status_code))
Here is the command I ran which ...
-2
votes
2answers
37 views
Handling whitespace in filepaths
I have this:
muh_dir=`cd $(dirname "$BASH_SOURCE") && pwd`
and yeah I tested the above (it has backticks) and it doesn't work well with whitespace in the pwd.
On the other hand, this is ...
1
vote
3answers
121 views
SSH with Command Doesn't Run as an Alias
I have the following command to remote into a local server and tail -f the latest log file for an application that I have.
The command works perfectly fine from the command line -
ssh user@hostname ...
3
votes
1answer
674 views
What's the different between with a ~ and without a ~ in a string variable in Bash? [duplicate]
I'm using a dotfile manage software, named dotdrop. Using a config file named .env, contents like: git_folder="~/code/Git".
Also use a script to setup this dotfile tool before the first use of it, as ...
2
votes
3answers
994 views
Bash Script to remotely collect hostname, IP and host total memory
I am trying to write a scrip that will collect the hostname, IP and total memory installed on remote hosts from a list I feed into the script. The script will collect information from Redhat and ...
0
votes
4answers
1k views
get output of this command from another server via ssh
I'm trying to ssh into a server and get the system uptime using a specific command but it's failing to execute.
this would work locally on almost all unix systems
startuptime=`uptime | awk '{print $...
1
vote
2answers
39 views
Using rsync to delete selected patterns, matches all files
I mean to use rsync to remove certain files (for Efficiently delete large directory containing thousands of files), in this case given to a shell script as patterns in the command line.
So far, this ...
0
votes
0answers
15 views
How to append a “/*” to the end of a variable with spaces and glob it? [duplicate]
If I have a directory wibble, the following command does what I want:
WIBBLE=wibble
wc $WIBBLE/*
If I have a directory foo bar, the following command does what I want:
wc foo\ bar/*
But this doesn'...
2
votes
1answer
310 views
Escaping problem with find command
I need to find everything in a directory, excluding certain subdirectories and files. My script needs to call this as a function:
function findStuff() {
# define exclusions
ignore_dirs=("$1" "*...
0
votes
0answers
26 views
Quoting of SQL excuted via psql via ssh
I want to execute this SQL line:
select * from "foo" where name='bar'
I call above line "sql_line" in the next statements.
Now I want to call this via psql:
psql -c sql_line
Now I want to call ...
0
votes
1answer
56 views
Using a bash loop to run a program that uses single-quotes in the command line, where single-quotes nullify the bash script's intention
The problem:
I want to be able to run a program within a bash loop over each .fna file in a directory, but I also want the name of the output file to have the same file name (without the extension), ...
2
votes
1answer
116 views
Shell command executed differently in a terminal and script
The following sequence of commands
ch=`echo "b_d" | sed 's/_/\\\\\\\\_/'`
echo $ch
when executed in a terminal or via source give an output
b\\_d
When ran as a scipt
sh script.sh
where the ...
