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I always do this when passing variable to command

mkdir -p "$dir_to_make"

are those quotes needed? I tried to google but didn't find much. I always write them, just interested if they are necessary.

graywolf
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    They are necessary if the filename has special characters. – 123 Jul 05 '16 at 13:29
  • so in general purpose script they are probably good idea? – graywolf Jul 05 '16 at 13:32
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    @Paladin Absolutely. Quote, unless you have a specific reason not to. Saves you from worrying about word splitting, glob expansions, and the contexts in which they take place. – Petr Skocik Jul 05 '16 at 13:33
  • Exactly what 123 and PSkocik are saying. If you do A="mydir/My Photos"; mkdir -p $A (i.e. without the quotes on $A) you will get three dirs instead of two: ./mydir, ./mydir/My and ./Photos. – grochmal Jul 05 '16 at 13:46
  • See: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/171346/security-implications-of-forgetting-to-quote-a-variable-in-bash-posix-shells – Eric Renouf Jul 05 '16 at 13:48

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