How to use an escaped file-name string saved within a bash variable in a new shell command?

Question

Problem:

I have an escaped string saved within a variable:

escapedFileName='/dbDumps/Mon\ Oct\ \ 1\ 15\:22\:50\ UTC\ 2018.sql'

but whenever I try to use this file name within the following command, I get an error message saying that this path does not exist (even though it does).

/usr/bin/mysql -u root -pmypassword system < "$escapedFileName";

When i use the path and not the string it works :

/usr/bin/mysql -u root -pmypassword system < /dbDumps/Mon\ Oct\ \ 1\ 15\:22\:50\ UTC\ 2018.sql

What am I doing wrong ?

@don_crissti that is not duplicate, in many ways it is the opposite. — ctrl-alt-delor, Oct 01 '18 at 18:01
There's always a duplicate out there but someone has to find it... Here's a better candidate (I can no longer vote to close this one): Why I can't escape spaces on a bash script?. Note that only one answer there is correct. Both braiam's and daisy's answers are wrong (as you already know now) - double quoting the variable doesn't solve this problem. Not surprisingly, one of those answers is accepted and has an insane number of upvotes... — don_crissti, Oct 01 '18 at 19:26

ctrl-alt-delor · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-01T18:06:15.400

1

You don't need to escape when you put the text between quotes.

Therefore remove the \s

escapedFileName='/dbDumps/Mon Oct  1 15:22:50 UTC 2018.sql'

And you should not escape the :, they don't need it, and it will break it.

edited Oct 01 '18 at 18:06

answered Oct 01 '18 at 17:59

ctrl-alt-delor

27,993

1

@Kusalananda my bad, I was not thinking straight. I have now fixed my answer. – ctrl-alt-delor Oct 01 '18 at 18:10
Not any quotes....straight quotes. – Rui F Ribeiro Oct 01 '18 at 18:42
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@RuiFRibeiro single (') of double ("), back quotes are deprecated, in favour of $() – ctrl-alt-delor Oct 01 '18 at 18:44

How to use an escaped file-name string saved within a bash variable in a new shell command?

1 Answers1