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Set problem with spaces

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# 1  
Old 09-07-2013
Set problem with spaces
Code:
#### ~]$ set "hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat"

Code:
#### ~]$ echo $* | awk '{print $2}'
'cat

why is the second command above showing only
Code:
"'cat

?

shouldn't the output be:

Code:
'cat dog walk'

how can i fix this so it gives me the chosen column in its entirety?
# 2  
Old 09-07-2013
Do you want to put the string(hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat) in a variable?:
Code:
$ v="hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat"
$ echo $v
hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat

# 3  
Old 09-07-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by spacebar
Do you want to put the string(hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat) in a variable?:
Code:
$ v="hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat"
$ echo $v
hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat

in this particular instance, i need to use set to set the variables. it looks as though the set command has issues accepting values between quotes as one single value.
Last edited by SkySmart; 09-07-2013 at 01:08 AM..
# 4  
Old 09-07-2013
If I understand what you are trying to do this is another way:
Code:
IFS=","
myvars="hello,cat dog walk,money,elephat"
for v in $myvars
do
  echo $v
done

This User Gave Thanks to spacebar For This Post:
SkySmart
# 5  
Old 09-07-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkySmart
Code:
#### ~]$ set "hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat"

Code:
#### ~]$ echo $* | awk '{print $2}'
'cat

why is the second command above showing only
Code:
"'cat

?

shouldn't the output be:

Code:
'cat dog walk'

how can i fix this so it gives me the chosen column in its entirety?
The command:
Code:
set "hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat"

sets $# to 1 and $1 to hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat.

The command:
Code:
echo $* | awk '{print $2}'

with its default field separator set to split fields on combinations of one or more spaces or tabs has field 1 set to hello, field 2 set to 'cat, field 3 set to dog, etc. and the awk command should print:
Code:
'cat

I have no idea how you got a leading " nor a trailing space from that command.

Without awk, the following shell commands might do what you want:
Code:
set hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat
printf "args=%d, arg1=%s, arg2=%s, arg3=%s, arg4=%s\n" $# "$1" "$2" "$3" "$4"

should print:
Code:
args=4, arg1=hello, arg2=cat dog walk, arg3=money, arg4=elephat

assuming that you're using a standards conforming shell such as bash or ksh.
This User Gave Thanks to Don Cragun For This Post:
SkySmart
# 6  
Old 09-07-2013
Try
Code:
set hello 'cat dog walk' money elephat
echo "$@" | awk '{print $2}'

As Don suggested, simpler than the awk thing is
Code:
echo "$2"

Last edited by MadeInGermany; 09-07-2013 at 03:14 AM..
This User Gave Thanks to MadeInGermany For This Post:
SkySmart
# 7  
Old 09-07-2013
@MadeinGermany: that will provide cat. To use awk ( instead of printf "%s\n" "$2" ) we need to get around the field splitting of awk with something like:
Code:
printf "%s\n" "$@" | awk '{print $2}' FS='\n' RS=§

or just:
Code:
printf "%s\n" "$@" | awk NR==2

Last edited by Scrutinizer; 09-07-2013 at 03:30 AM..
These 2 Users Gave Thanks to Scrutinizer For This Post:
MadeInGermany SkySmart
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