Command with argument within a command within a command

Question

Yes, that title is a complete mess. I didn't really know how else to describe it.

I'm setting up my RPi to run Homebridge in a screen on startup. I've edited my rc.local file to include this line:

su - pi -c "screen -dm -S hbscreen homebridge"

It creates a screen called "hbscreen" which executes the command "homebridge". Now the problem is that I'd like to add an argument so the command reads "homebridge -I".

Seeing as I like to just try things I simply added -I to the line and got this:

su - pi -c "screen -dm -S hbscreen homebridge -I"

But suddenly my RPi wouldn't boot anymore. So, I guess that wasn't the right way to go about it.

I've been googling for half an hour now and I can't seem to figure it out. What would be the correct notation? I'm guessing I need to let it know "homebridge -I" is one piece, but I'm assuming I can't use quotation marks within quotation marks like this:

su - pi -c "screen -dm -S hbscreen "homebridge -I""

What if you use single quotes instead of the inner double quotes? Also, you can escape the double quotes as \". — UltraInstinct
– UltraInstinct, Commented Sep 15, 2018 at 18:00
@UltraInstinct Just tried escaping the double quotes, didn't work sadly. I restarted my Pi and the screen didn't even start up. — s1h4d0w
– s1h4d0w, Commented Sep 15, 2018 at 19:07
Forgot to add that I also tried the single quotes, same result. RPi would boot but no screen would have been started. Removing the quotes and -I makes everything run fine, but I need the -I for additional features. — s1h4d0w
– s1h4d0w, Commented Sep 15, 2018 at 19:22

s1h4d0w · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-15 19:58:58Z

1

Thanks to someone on Reddit I managed to fix it by not putting everything in rc.local but instead making an .sh file in my home directory called hbboot.sh and running that instead.

rc.local:

su - pi -c "screen -dm -S hbscreen ~/hbboot.sh"

hbboot.sh:

#!/bin/sh
homebridge -I "$@"

answered Sep 15, 2018 at 19:58

s1h4d0w

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