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I want to count the lines of a file in a folder with a space in its name. I unfortunately cannot change the folder name, it will always have a space in it.

$ export MYPATH=a\ folder/trigrams.txt
$ wc -l $MYPATH
wc: a: open: No such file or directory
wc: folder/trigrams.txt: open: No such file or directory
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$ export MYPATH="a\ folder/trigrams.txt"
$ wc -l $MYPATH
wc: a\: open: No such file or directory
wc: folder/trigrams.txt: open: No such file or directory
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$ wc -l "$MYPATH"
wc: a\ folder/trigrams.txt: open: No such file or directory

$ wc -l a\ folder/trigrams.txt 
70803 a folder/trigrams.txt
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  • wc -l "$MYPATH" Commented Apr 24, 2020 at 15:50
  • You have to assign like MYPATH='a folder/trigrams.txt' and then use wc -l "$MYPATH"; you added a literal backslash in your latest edit. Commented Apr 24, 2020 at 15:52
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