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I'm new to shell scripting and wanted to insure I haven't made any errors in creating this script for making a borg backup to a flashdrive that I plug into my computer.

  • Does the below script look solid? (I made it executable and put it in my /usr/local/bin/)

  • I added the "date" command substitution within the "borg" command substitution. Is this allowed? Are there any rules that frown on putting command substitutions within command substitutions?

  • Does the entire line need quotes (") around it, like I have done?

#!/bin/bash

echo "$(borg create /media/$USER/Flashdrive/backup::$(date +%FT%H%M) /home/$USER/Documents)"
NickD
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user847
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  • The ability to be easily nested is one of the reasons often given for preferring this form of command substitution over the older "backtick" form. See for example What's the difference between $(stuff) and stuff? – steeldriver Apr 19 '20 at 01:00
  • The echo and the first command substitution are not needed (but the outer quotes around the command substitution would be correct). And borg allows a few placeholders in the archive name, so you could write the date as {now:%Y-%m-%dT%H%M} (maybe %F instead of %Y-%m-%d works too, I just haven't seen an example in the manual). – Freddy Apr 19 '20 at 01:26
  • Why did you use curly braces: {now:%FT%M%H}. instead of $(now:%FT%M%H)? – user847 Apr 19 '20 at 14:19
  • Freddy, would you mind posting as an answer? If I understand you, you recommended this formatting: borg create /media/$USER/Flashdrive/backup::"$(date +%FT%H%M)" /home/$USER/Documents – user847 Apr 19 '20 at 14:25
  • Why are you using echo? Rather than echo $(borg …), why not just run the borg … command? – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica' Jul 30 '20 at 20:54

1 Answers1

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This looks ok. You can easily try it by replacing borg with echo and see if this is what you are looking for.

Double quotes are not required.

kosolapyj
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