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Gawk Escaping Ampersand

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# 1  
Old 05-06-2017
Question Gawk Escaping Ampersand
I would like to open a text m3u file and add the same string to the beginning of each line. I think I am close, but I cannot figure out how to escape the ampersand in the following code:

Code:
gawk-3.1.6.exe  "{print /var/media/Music2.0TB2.1USB/Audio Files/Music/Rock & Roll/ $0}" "L:\Music\Rock & Roll\Rock & Rated.m3u"

The ampersand is part of a folder name and shows up twice.

Many thanks

each line in this text file is a shortened pathname:
Code:
Pink Floyd\(1987-09-07) A Momentary Lapse of Reason\03. The Dogs Of War.flac

I want to add the full path to that file by concatenating two strings.
the rest of the path is:
Code:
/var/media/Music2.0TB2.1USB/Audio Files/Music/Rock & Roll/

output should be
Code:
/var/media/Music2.0TB2.1USB/Audio Files/Music/Rock & Roll/Pink Floyd\(1987-09-07) A Momentary Lapse of Reason\03. The Dogs Of War.flac

and I just noticed the slashes are different, easy to fix with global search and replace
Last edited by Scrutinizer; 05-07-2017 at 03:35 AM.. Reason: example for clarity; added code tags (mod)
# 2  
Old 05-06-2017
Perhaps ...

Code:
gawk '{print "/var/media/Music2.0TB2.1USB/Audio Files/Music/Rock & Roll/" $0}' example.m3u

Last edited by Aia; 05-06-2017 at 08:49 PM..
# 3  
Old 05-06-2017
Did you try single quotes on the gawk script section?:
Code:
gawk-3.1.6.exe  '{print "/var/media/Music2.0TB2.1USB/Audio Files/Music/Rock & Roll/" $0}' "L:\Music\Rock & Roll\Rock & Rated.m3u"

# 4  
Old 05-06-2017
aia - not sure. But space concatenates the $0, a comma will put a space in there which, if that first quoted section is some kind of filename might be a problem.
# 5  
Old 05-06-2017
It doesn't like the single quote. It wants to execute Roll.
# 6  
Old 05-06-2017
Quote:
Originally Posted by jim mcnamara
aia - not sure. But space concatenates the $0, a comma will put a space in there which, if that first quoted section is some kind of filename might be a problem.
I thought that the person wanted the space, until I realized that most likely wanted to craft a full path for each entry.
# 7  
Old 05-06-2017
It says the single quote is an invalid character.

---------- Post updated at 04:54 PM ---------- Previous update was at 04:53 PM ----------

Yes, I am making a path name - no space wanted.
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