writing shell script that accepts command line inputs with spaces

Question

I want to write a shell script myscript. The user will type a folder to get it to work:

~$: myscript /myfolder1/random folder/fb/picture set/...

As you can see depends on the folder there are unknown number of spaces in the input.

I want myscript to be able to interpret the whole input as one input. What can i do to achieve this?

I can use read command to capture the input, but it only expects the input in the next line after the user types

myscript+enter.

Which is not what i want.

What output are you expecting? Can you show your script? Each space delimited argument will become $1 $2 $3 ... in the script. — jeremyjjbrown
– jeremyjjbrown, Commented Feb 8, 2014 at 5:35
Use quotes " ' or whitespace escaping. ./myscript "/myfolder1/random folder/fb/picture set/" — user3159253
– user3159253, Commented Feb 8, 2014 at 5:35

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-08 05:35:54Z

1

You can't, since your script can't know how much whitespace there is, which whitespace characters are being used, or whether certain arguments are supposed to be flags or fragments of paths. Your users will have to correctly quote arguments to the script.

answered Feb 8, 2014 at 5:35

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

804k160 gold badges1.4k silver badges1.4k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

jeremyjjbrown · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-08 05:36:49Z

0

myscript "/myfolder1/random folder/fb/picture set/..."

will make one argument.

answered Feb 8, 2014 at 5:36

jeremyjjbrown

8,0385 gold badges45 silver badges56 bronze badges

Comments

beroe · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-11 17:03:35Z

0

Hard to tell exactly what you are trying to do without more context, but you can use $@ to get all the arguments together.

#!/bin/bash
echo zzz "$@" zzz

Then if you run it:

myscript a b c

You get:

zzz a b c zzz

edited Feb 11, 2014 at 17:03

answered Feb 8, 2014 at 5:43

beroe

12.4k6 gold badges40 silver badges82 bronze badges

1 Comment

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Over a year ago

Although you really should be using "$@" instead so that you don't break your arguments up.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

writing shell script that accepts command line inputs with spaces

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related