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Full Discussion: Find command fails when a space is in the directory path variable
Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers Find command fails when a space is in the directory path variable Post 302748735 by apta on Thursday 27th of December 2012 12:31:12 AM
Old 12-27-2012
Question Find command fails when a space is in the directory path variable
I have a script like this running under OS X 10.8. The problem arises when the find command encounters a space in the path name. I need the "dir" variable as I'll be extending the script to more general use.
Code:
#!/bin/bash
CFS=$IFS
IFS=$(echo)

set dir = "/Users/apta/Library/Mail\ Downloads/2012-12-20/Testimonials.mbox/"
ls -l ${dir}
find ${dir} -name '*.emlx' | xargs grep -ih "^From: " | awk -f emlx_addresses.awk | sort -u -t "," -k 2

The ls command works fine in the script but the find command encounters this error:
Code:
find: illegal option -- n
usage: find [-H | -L | -P] [-EXdsx] [-f path] path ... [expression]
       find [-H | -L | -P] [-EXdsx] -f path [path ...] [expression]

If I enclose the path variable with quotes
Code:
find "${dir}" -name '*.emlx' |  ...

then this error comes up:
Code:
find: ftsopen: No such file or directory

I'm baffled; I added the IFS as suggested in another posting but it didn't help.
 

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LEARN ABOUT SUNOS

makesh

MAKESH(1)                                                     General Commands Manual                                                    MAKESH(1)

NAME

       makeSH - a .SH script maker

SYNOPSIS

       makeSH files

DESCRIPTION

       MakeSH  examines  one or more scripts and produces a .SH file that, when run under sh, will produce the original script.  The .SH script so
       produced has two sections containing code destined for the output.  The first section has variable substitutions performed  on  it  (taking
       values  from  config.sh), while the second section does not.  MakeSH does not know which variables you want to have substituted, so it puts
       the whole script into the second section.  It's up to you to insert any variable substitutions in the first section for any values you want
       from config.sh.

       You  should  run  makeSH from within your top-level directory and use the relative path to the file as an argument, so that the "Extracting
       ..." line printed while running the produced .SH file later on will give that same path.

AUTHOR

       Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com>

SEE ALSO

       pat(1), metaconfig(1), makedist(1).

BUGS

       It could assume that variables from metaconfig's Glossary need to be initialized in the first section, but I'm too lazy to make it do that.

                                                                       LOCAL                                                             MAKESH(1)
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