UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Code:

#!/bin/bash
for i in `ls -1 $FOLDER`
do
        sed 's,%20, ,g' $i > ${i}_modified
done

if needed, then mv the modified file to your original filename

Take a close look at your quoting. You cannot include a single-quote in a single-quoted string. Usually, that's done by closing the quoted string, escaping a single quote, and re-opening a quoted string: 'foo'\''bar'

You just got lucky with the version that works because there's no IFS-whitespace in the unquoted segment.

Although I cannot replicate it (my ksh complains about unmatched parenthesis), it looks to me that the ksh command string consists of mv $0 $( echo $0|sed 's/%20/. $0 is then set to /g ), and $1 to the pathname inserted in place of {}.

Since the $0 is unquoted, the first argument to mv, $0, will undergo field splitting. Since /g ) contains a space, it will become two fieldsd. The first argument to mv will then be /g, which is mentioned in the error message. The ) will be the second argument to mv. This is also consistent with where sed is complaining that its command abruptly ends.

Still, odd that your ksh itself didn't complain about the unterminated command substitution.

Regards,
Alister