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I have access to a list of folders that have a format like lastname, firstname(id) When I try to enter the folder from the terminal, it looks like cd test/lastname,\ firstname\(id\) I am not sure why there are backslashes where there aren't any spaces. My script has access to the credentials and I generated the exact format with the backslashes, but I still cannot enter the folder from the bash script. The variable I use is like this: folder="lastname,\ firstname\(id\)"

When I do cd $HOME/test/$folder/ it says there is not such folder. I tried a couple of solutions suggested on different questions, but haven't worked. Putting it within double quotes on the folder variable, and also on the entire expression also didn't work. I guess I don't know what is going wrong and hence cannot get it to work. It'd be awesome if someone could help me out here!

rookie
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2 Answers2

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This:

The variable I use is like this: folder="lastname,\ firstname\(id\)"

Will not work. Because the variable then keeps the backslash:

[maulinglawns@ArchLinux ~]$ folder="lastname,\ firstname\(id\)"
[maulinglawns@ArchLinux ~]$ echo "$folder"
lastname,\ firstname\(id\)

Hence, you get this message:

cd "slask/$folder" 
bash: cd: slask/lastname,\ firstname\(id\): No such file or directory

The easiest way to solve this is to put your variable inside "". Like this:

[maulinglawns@ArchLinux slask]$ mkdir lastname,\ firstname\(id\)
[maulinglawns@ArchLinux slask]$ folder="lastname, firstname(id)"
[maulinglawns@ArchLinux slask]$ cd "$folder"
[maulinglawns@ArchLinux lastname, firstname(id)]$

This way, the shell will not split on the whitespace in the variable. Read more about variables and quoting here.

  • dang dude! Thanks for educating me on these intricacies. I removed the extra backslashes that I was inserting manually and followed the method you suggested. Works! – rookie Oct 12 '16 at 06:51
  • @rookie No problem. Believe me, we have all been there! You posted a really good question. –  Oct 12 '16 at 06:54
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Quote your expansions ($folder is an expansion, a "Parameter expansion"):

$ cd "$HOME/test/$folder/"

If you assign the value in single quotes:

$ folder='lastname, firstname(id)'

There is no need for back quotes, and the above cd will work correctly.

  • I had actually tried the approach with single quotes manually and it worked. But then the problem was that the credentials(firstname/lastname/id) were pulled from different sources and the eventual folder name I created was stored in a variable. Now if I used single quotes, it didnt substitute the variable but used it as is and that's where I got stuck. – rookie Oct 12 '16 at 06:59
  • @rookie The take away should be "quote your expansions". That is the real key. –  Oct 12 '16 at 07:03