Thank you, Chubler_XL, for a further improvement. However, the code does not handle wildcard asterisks (*) very well, if the file intended to be matched contains a space.

Suppose that the current directory has the following four files. Also suppose that the name of the above code supplied by Chubler_XL is "readtest.sh" and located at the parent directory of the current one.

Summer View.txt
Winter View.txt
scene 1.sh
scene 2.sh


Because it is dangerous to experiment with "rm", let us use "ls" instead. I would like to allow the user to input file names in the same manner as arguments to the "ls" command, except that my script does not take options.

First, I gave the following line to "ls" and "readtest.sh".

"Summer View.txt" Winter\ View.txt scene*.sh

The results were a success with "ls" and a failure with "readtest.sh". The "readtest.sh" script interpreted "scene" and "1.sh" as two separate files.

Code:

$ ls -1 "Summer View.txt" Winter\ View.txt scene*.sh
Summer View.txt
Winter View.txt
scene 1.sh
scene 2.sh
$ 
$ 
$ ../readtest.sh
Enter files: "Summer View.txt" Winter\ View.txt scene*.sh
filename:  Summer View.txt
filename:  Winter View.txt
filename:  scene
filename:  1.sh
filename:  scene
filename:  2.sh

Second, I gave the following line to "ls" and "readtest.sh".

"Summer View.txt" Winter\ View.txt "scene*.sh"

Both "ls" and "readtest.sh" failed. The "readtest.sh" script mistook as if "scene 1.sh scene 2.sh" were a single file with a long name.

Code:

$ ls -1 "Summer View.txt" Winter\ View.txt "scene*.sh"
ls: scene*.sh: No such file or directory
Summer View.txt
Winter View.txt
$ 
$ 
$ ../readtest.sh
Enter files: "Summer View.txt" Winter\ View.txt "scene*.sh"
filename:  Summer View.txt
filename:  Winter View.txt
filename:  scene 1.sh scene 2.sh

If "ls" correctly understands scene*.sh without quotes for "scene 1.sh" and "scene 2.sh", then I would like the script to understand it in the same manner as "ls".

If "ls" does not understand "scene*.sh" with quotes, then it will not matter to me whether the script understands it or not.

Many thanks, in advance.