Preventing whitespace to be a delimiter in a for loop (bash/sh)

		The UNIX and Linux Forums > Top Forums > Shell Programming and Scripting
Preventing whitespace to be a delimiter in a for loop (bash/sh)

google unix.com

Shell Programming and Scripting Post questions about KSH, CSH, SH, BASH, PERL, PHP, SED, AWK and OTHER shell scripts and shell scripting languages here.

More UNIX and Linux Forum Topics You Might Find Helpful
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Of bash and whitespace...	lev_lafayette	Shell Programming and Scripting	2	04-13-2008 09:44 PM
Bash while loop problem	Kweekwom	Shell Programming and Scripting	5	07-23-2007 01:49 AM
error in bash script 'if' loop	DILEEP410	Shell Programming and Scripting	2	06-06-2007 09:04 AM
Simple bash for loop problem	kingdbag	Shell Programming and Scripting	4	09-15-2006 02:00 AM
while read loop preserving leading whitespace	zazzybob	Shell Programming and Scripting	3	06-07-2004 06:36 PM


	Powered by

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Rate Thread

Display Modes

#1 (permalink)

09-12-2007

kkkoehne

Registered User

Join Date: Sep 2007

Posts: 1

Preventing whitespace to be a delimiter in a for loop (bash/sh)

Hi,

I have a for loop which iterates over a list of strings, separated by whitespace:

Code:

$ list="1 2 3"
$ for i in $list; do echo $i; done
1
2
3

I now want to introduce some strings containing whitespace themselves ... This is straightforward if I directly iterate over the list:

Code:

$ for i in 1\ 2 3; do echo $i; done
1 2
3

However, this does not work if the list is in a variable

Code:

$ list="1\ 2 3"
$ for i in $list; do echo $i; done
1\
2
3

Is there a way to somehow make the whitespace in the variable $list special, so that the for loop does not recognize it as a delimiter?

BTW: The for loop is not written by myself, but is burried deep in a build script I do not want to change ...

Thanks in advance!

Kai Koehne

Bookmarks

« Format CSV file | Perl hash containing arrays »

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes	Rate This Thread
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode	Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts BB code is On Smilies are On [IMG] code is On HTML code is Off Trackbacks are On Pingbacks are On Refbacks are On Forum Rules

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:31 AM.