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Full Discussion: File paths with spaces in a variable
Operating Systems OS X (Apple) File paths with spaces in a variable Post 302739491 by bakunin on Tuesday 4th of December 2012 09:17:58 AM
Old 12-04-2012
Quote:
Originally Posted by tillett22
Hi all my very first post so go easy on me!!
No problem: would you please use CODE-tags when posting code? Thank you.

Quote:
Code:
#!/bin/bash
X="/Library/Users/Application\ Support/"

LS="ls"
AL="-al"

$LS $AL $X

I know this is a problem with the space in the file path but I thought the "" would pass to the commandline with no issues but I am wrong.
True. The problem is in the last line: your definition of "X" is ok, since the space is protected there (try removing the double quotes and you will get an error if you remove the escape "\" too). But when your script gets to the last line it first replaces "$X" with its contents and only then executes the line. This is "ls" is presented two parameters, separated by a space (which was no longer protected) the first and the second part of "$X". "ls" is fine with getting two paths, but these two paths, "/Library/Users/Application" and "Support/" do not exist, hence you get two errors, one for the first missing path and one for the second.

Use

Code:
$LS $AL "$X"

or, if you are completely paranoid, like me:

Code:
"$LS" "$AL" "$X"

and it will work as expected.

I hope this helps.

bakunin
 

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LEARN ABOUT CENTOS

error::pass1

ERROR::PASS1(7stap)													       ERROR::PASS1(7stap)

NAME

       error::pass1 - systemtap pass-1 errors

DESCRIPTION

       Errors  that occur during pass 1 (parsing) usually mean a basic syntax error of some sort occurred in the systemtap script.  There are sev-
       eral classes of problems possible:

       plain syntax error
	      The systemtap script parser detects a large variety of errors, such as missing operands, bad punctuation.  It  tries  to	list  what
	      kinds  of  tokens  it was expecting to see, and will show the region of the source code with the problem.  Please review the stap(1)
	      man page and/or the tutorial, to correct the script's syntax.

       grammar ambiguities
	      There is at least one known ambiguity in the systemtap grammar.  It relates to the optionality of ; (semicolon)  separators  between
	      statements, and the ++ and -- increment/decrement operators.  If the parser indicates an error, consider adding some explicit ; sep-
	      arators between nearby statements and try again.

       missing command line arguments
	      A systemtap script that uses the $N and @N constructs for substituting in command-line options may fail if not enough  options  were
	      given on the stap command line.

       compatibility changes
	      Some  versions  of systemtap have changed the language incompatibly, for example by adding the try/catch keywords for exception han-
	      dling.  In such cases, rerun systemtap with the --compatibility=VERSION option, substituting the last systemtap version  where  your
	      script was known to work.  You may also check the release-history NEWS file for compatibility changes.

GATHERING MORE INFORMATION

       Increasing the verbosity of pass-1 with an option such as --vp 1 can help pinpoint the problem.

SEE ALSO

       stap(1),
       error::reporting(7stap)

															       ERROR::PASS1(7stap)
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