BASH File Spaces

Question

Hi but it appears that if my strings have spaces in it, it won't work properly. My entire script is here:

#!/bin/bash  
echo $#; echo $@
MoveToTarget() {
    #This takes to 2 arguments: source and target
        echo ""$1"  "$2""
    cp -rf "$1"/* "$2"
    rm -r "$1"
}

WaitForProcessToEnd() {
    #This takes 1 argument. The PID to wait for
    #Unlike the AutoIt version, this sleeps 1 second
    while [ $(kill -0 "$1") ]; do
            sleep 1
    done
}

RunApplication() {
    #This takes 1 application, the path to the thing to execute
    open "$1"
}

#our main code block
pid="$1"
SourcePath="$2"
DestPath="$3"
ToExecute="$4"
WaitForProcessToEnd $pid
MoveToTarget "$SourcePath" "$DestPath"
RunApplication "$ToExecute"
exit

Note that I have tried the variables like $DestPath with and without quotes around them, with no luck. This code gets run with a Python script, and when the arguments are passed, quotes are around them. I appreciate any help!

Edit: (Python script)

bootstrapper_command = r'"%s" "%s" "%s" "%s" "%s"' % (bootstrapper_path, os.getpid(), extracted_path, self.app_path, self.postexecute)
shell = True
subprocess.Popen(bootstrapper_command, shell=shell)

a general debug tip, run it using #!/bin/bash -x then every variable with it's value is echoed to stdout as the script executes. — Fredrik Pihl
– Fredrik Pihl, Commented Jun 14, 2011 at 21:14
Could you echo $#; echo $@ at the top of the script? That might shed a little light. — pilcrow
– pilcrow, Commented Jun 14, 2011 at 21:17
"when the arguments are passed, quotes are around them" is wrong. — Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
– Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams, Commented Jun 14, 2011 at 21:27
@Sorpigal I looked up on how to do it, I don't see the green arrow below my questions. Is it because I haven't registered? — rsmith
– rsmith, Commented Jun 14, 2011 at 21:39

l0b0 · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-17 13:47:46Z

2

Bash quotes are syntactic, not literal. Greg's Wiki, as usual, has the most excellent explanation you could wish for.

answered Jun 17, 2011 at 13:47

l0b0

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1 Comment

kris Over a year ago

Very useful info there. I'd +1 Greg too if I could

Demosthenex · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-17 15:00:22Z

0

Try removing the *, it isn't needed for recursive copy.

cp -rf "$1"/* "$2"

to:

cp -rf "$1/" "$2"

I think globbing was ruining your quoting that was protecting you from spaces in filenames.

answered Jun 17, 2011 at 15:00

Demosthenex

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