Questions tagged [quoting]
Strings are typically delimited by quotes, which raises the problem of dealing with strings that include quotes.
2
votes
1answer
36 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
26 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
38 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
35 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
81 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
53 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 $"...". Why are there so many different kinds of quote being used?
Do they behave differently ...
1
vote
1answer
37 views
I have a pipe separated file,read file row wise and search for unclosed quotes(") in each row and close that
Below is a row and i need to close "20 with "20"
2019-02-15T10:25:19+0100|ttt|werewrw|erewr|fddsfsdf|dfsdf|07|2ee7|1b65d04|"20|19|-02-|15t10:03|45435435|765767||SIP;rr=200;text="hyt"|
0
votes
3answers
53 views
Which quoting style GNU Bash variable definitions (mostly for paths)? [closed]
Which of the following quoting styles, for GNU Bash variables, is preferred and why?
Two double quotes: VAR="/path/$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
640 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 -?
5
votes
1answer
343 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
48 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
153 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 $2}')"
but this returns the error
kill: usage: kill [-s sigspec | -n ...
3
votes
1answer
69 views
Commands Differences Using Quotations (Find)
I was reading the man page of find and I found myself confused with the following commands. What is the difference between one and its corresponding one.
What is the difference between the following ...
0
votes
2answers
83 views
Is the behavior of escaping special characters inside double-quotes in mainstream POSIX-compliant shells at odds with POSIX?
Per the POSIX Shell Command Language Page:
\
The <backslash> shall retain its special meaning as an escape character (see Escape Character (Backslash)) only when followed by one of the ...
3
votes
3answers
118 views
POSIX Shell: inside of double-quotes, are there cases where `\` fails to escape `$`, ```, `"`, `\` 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
49 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
389 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/$2 * 100.0) }'
I was wondering if I can turn this command into ...
0
votes
1answer
49 views
Can I put a single quote in a user's password
I was wondering if there would be any issue with placing a single quote in a ubuntu user's password. We have a couple machines with a dummy user for automation purposes and I would like the password ...
1
vote
1answer
223 views
Cannot rm or cp files with a wildcard in name [duplicate]
I have a line like this in my script:
rm "$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
71 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
65 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
176 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
221 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
42 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
36 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
112 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
673 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
628 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
750 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
36 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
256 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
25 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
44 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
91 views
Shell command executed differently in a terminal and script
The following sequence of commands
ch=`echo "b_d" | sed 's/_/\\\\\\\\_/'`
echo $ch
when executed in a terminal or via source give an output
b\\_d
When ran as a scipt
sh script.sh
where the ...
2
votes
1answer
175 views
Bash: Allow parentheses in command arguments (i.e. prevent “unexpected token '(' ”)
I am frequently using a command line program that I provide with arguments that contain parentheses. For simplicity, let's say I'm writing
echo 'bar(1,3)'
I would like to omit the quotes. However, ...
0
votes
2answers
66 views
Setting an alias when double quotes and single quotes both fail
This question is not a duplicate of Why alias behave different than running bash command directly? because I have tried that solution and it hasn't worked. I replaced all my single quotes with double ...
2
votes
1answer
38 views
Generating quoted command arguments
I'm working with a HTTP API that demands a very particular set of signed headers + JSON body. And I really want to cURL it for debugging and sanity in general.
So, I've written a small script that, ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
How to delete or access a file with a backslash \ in its name?
I have some files here that I copied over to this linux box using the python module pysftp:
[jm@spartan tf]$ ls -la
total 0
drwxrwxrwx. 3 jm jm 69 Aug 14 13:50 .
drwxrwxrwt. 9 root root 238 ...
0
votes
2answers
91 views
Keeping quotes passed to a perl wrapper script
I'm writing a small perl wrapper to setup environment variables, etc., then invoke a command by the same name.
./foo.pl -a one -b two -c "1 2 3" -d done
When I output @ARGV, the "" around 1 2 3 have ...
0
votes
2answers
35 views
Bash : Give builded array to function as a list of argument?
I have this issue with borgbackup, but because the reaction is the same, I will use rsync in my example.
I want to build an array of arguments by adding a prefix to each, and then give that array to ...
2
votes
2answers
148 views
Index range of array doesn't allow you to iterate over a new line in bash
I'm working on a simple bash script that fixes a duplicate naming issue on a retropie.
The script itself grabs any name that is mentioned more than once in a gameslist.xml file, then stores those in ...
0
votes
1answer
47 views
unable to include inverted comma's while using an echo comand
I was trying to echo the SNMP configuration inside the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file,
however, i noticed that it is removing "" while echoing the text inside the configuration file.....
i have tried out ...
1
vote
1answer
43 views
Is arithmetic expansion related to IFS in some way?
From https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/458074/674
arithmetic expansions are also subject to split+glob so should also be quoted (shift "$((OPTIND - 1))") (here not a problem though as you're using ...
-1
votes
1answer
1k views
Unexpected EOF while looking for matching ``' Ex01 [closed]
I have a BASH project and I face two errors that I do not understand.
Here is my BASH script:
#!/bin/bash
proc_name=`cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep 'model name' | cut -d':' -f2 |cut -d'@' -f1 | uniq`;
...
1
vote
1answer
47 views
Loop that lists folders with spaces
Approach
I have a directory with named folders, randomly, with blank spaces and periods.
I created a small loop (in a script) with the intention of renaming these folders.
On the basis that these ...
