UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have a file 'my File' which has one line:

Code:

 my name is John Doe

and in my shell script, I have:

Code:

file="\"my File\""
echo $file
cat $file

This displays "my File" (from echo command). But I am getting:

Code:

"my File"
cat: "my: No such file or directory
cat: File": No such file or directory

When I type in the command line the cat command, I get proper result:

Code:

[abc@ghi VGS]$ cat "my File"
 my name is John Doe

one solution, use eval
i.e.

Code:

#  eval cat $file

Your file name is having space, so protect it by double quote...

Code:

file="my File"
echo "$file"
cat "$file"

What you really want to do is:

Code:

file="my File"
echo $file
cat "$file"

In the first line, the variable file is assigned my, a space and File.
The second line is just for information
In the last line the contents of the variable file is passed as the first and only argument to cat, and that is what you need.

In your example, the variable file is assigned a quote, my, a space, File and a quote. In the last line of your example, cat is called with two arguments, the first one being a quote and my, the second argument is file and a quote.

Thanks, guys! the 'eval' worked..