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Osascript quoting issue

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# 1  
Old 11-09-2012
Osascript quoting issue
I am at a loss on this one. I am trying to run this command on a bunch of (OS 10.7.4) macs:
Code:
osascript -e "tell application \"System Events\" to return name of every process whose frontmost is true"

On some, it works fine. On others, I get this error:
Quote:
57:64: syntax error: Expected class name but found identifier. (-2741)
I have also tried (note the single quotes):
Code:
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to return name of every process whose frontmost is true'

but I get the same error. What am I missing? Why does this work on some machines and not others?
Last edited by nextyoyoma; 11-09-2012 at 01:19 PM.. Reason: correct typo in single quote example.
# 2  
Old 11-09-2012
You are missing a strong quote at the beginning of your statement.
Code:
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to return name of every process whose frontmost is true'
             ^*****

# 3  
Old 11-09-2012
Quote:
Originally Posted by xbin
You missing a strong quote at the beginning of your statement.
Code:
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to return name of every process whose frontmost is true'
             ^*****

Actually that's a typo. Sorry. It doesn't work with strong quotes either.

---------- Post updated at 02:27 PM ---------- Previous update was at 01:18 PM ----------

Ok, it looks like it just wasn't working over SSH. What I was actually trying to do was have a little background app pull commands from a mysql database and run them, but something about the formatting must get changed when pulling the command that way, because it fails to run on some machines. I ended up just storing the command within the app and it seems to work fine.
# 4  
Old 11-10-2012
The following forms work for me (local machine running 10.8.1, remote machine running 10.5.8):

Code:
ssh MYSERVERNAME "osascript -e 'tell application \"System Events\" to return name of every process whose frontmost is true'"

ssh MYSERVERNAME 'osascript -e "tell application \"System Events\" to return name of every process whose frontmost is true"'

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