Prepare arguments containing quoted string in variable

up vote
3
down vote

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In a Bash script, I call a program like this in several places:

numfmt --suffix=" B" --grouping 231210893

Where the number is different every time, but the other parameters stay the same.

I would now like to move the other parameters out of the many different calls, so they are centrally defined and can be easily changed. My attempt was like this:

NUMFMT='--suffix=" B" --grouping'

...

numfmt $NUMFMT 231210893

Unfortunately, this doesn't work. The quote signs are removed at some point, and numfmt complains about an uninterpretable extra argument B. I tried plenty of other versions, using other quotes both in the definition and in the use of NUMFMT, to no avail.

How do I do this properly? And if it's not too complicated, I would also like to understand why my version doesn't work and (hopefully) another one does.

edited Nov 18 at 13:41

Peter Mortensen

85758

asked Nov 18 at 0:42

A. Donda

1558

3

See Why does my shell script choke on whitespace or other special characters? - in particular, the section How do I store a command in a variable? in @Gilles answer
– steeldriver
Nov 18 at 0:57

add a comment |

up vote
3
down vote

favorite

In a Bash script, I call a program like this in several places:

numfmt --suffix=" B" --grouping 231210893

Where the number is different every time, but the other parameters stay the same.

I would now like to move the other parameters out of the many different calls, so they are centrally defined and can be easily changed. My attempt was like this:

NUMFMT='--suffix=" B" --grouping'

...

numfmt $NUMFMT 231210893

How do I do this properly? And if it's not too complicated, I would also like to understand why my version doesn't work and (hopefully) another one does.

edited Nov 18 at 13:41

Peter Mortensen

85758

asked Nov 18 at 0:42

A. Donda

1558

3

See Why does my shell script choke on whitespace or other special characters? - in particular, the section How do I store a command in a variable? in @Gilles answer
– steeldriver
Nov 18 at 0:57

add a comment |

up vote
3
down vote

favorite

In a Bash script, I call a program like this in several places:

numfmt --suffix=" B" --grouping 231210893

Where the number is different every time, but the other parameters stay the same.

I would now like to move the other parameters out of the many different calls, so they are centrally defined and can be easily changed. My attempt was like this:

NUMFMT='--suffix=" B" --grouping'

...

numfmt $NUMFMT 231210893

How do I do this properly? And if it's not too complicated, I would also like to understand why my version doesn't work and (hopefully) another one does.

edited Nov 18 at 13:41

Peter Mortensen

85758

asked Nov 18 at 0:42

A. Donda

1558

In a Bash script, I call a program like this in several places:

numfmt --suffix=" B" --grouping 231210893

Where the number is different every time, but the other parameters stay the same.

I would now like to move the other parameters out of the many different calls, so they are centrally defined and can be easily changed. My attempt was like this:

NUMFMT='--suffix=" B" --grouping'

...

numfmt $NUMFMT 231210893

How do I do this properly? And if it's not too complicated, I would also like to understand why my version doesn't work and (hopefully) another one does.

bash string bash-expansion

edited Nov 18 at 13:41

Peter Mortensen

85758

asked Nov 18 at 0:42

A. Donda

1558

edited Nov 18 at 13:41

Peter Mortensen

85758

asked Nov 18 at 0:42

A. Donda

1558

edited Nov 18 at 13:41

Peter Mortensen

85758

edited Nov 18 at 13:41

Peter Mortensen

85758

edited Nov 18 at 13:41

Peter Mortensen

85758

asked Nov 18 at 0:42

A. Donda

1558

asked Nov 18 at 0:42

A. Donda

1558

asked Nov 18 at 0:42

A. Donda

1558

3

See Why does my shell script choke on whitespace or other special characters? - in particular, the section How do I store a command in a variable? in @Gilles answer
– steeldriver
Nov 18 at 0:57

add a comment |

3

See Why does my shell script choke on whitespace or other special characters? - in particular, the section How do I store a command in a variable? in @Gilles answer
– steeldriver
Nov 18 at 0:57

See Why does my shell script choke on whitespace or other special characters? - in particular, the section How do I store a command in a variable? in @Gilles answer
– steeldriver
Nov 18 at 0:57

add a comment |

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

up vote
6
down vote

accepted

Try arrays:

NUMFMT=( --suffix=" B"   '--grouping' )

....

numfmt "${NUMFMT[@]}" 231210893

edited Nov 18 at 3:26

Filipe Brandenburger

6,6801732

answered Nov 18 at 1:21

Isaac

10.1k11445

I had to remove the "s in the first argument, but now it works perfectly. Thanks!
– A. Donda
Nov 18 at 1:38

add a comment |

up vote
0
down vote

Wouldn't that be an excellent case for an alias?

$ alias nfmtB='numfmt --suffix=" B" --grouping'

$ nfmtB 324235345656

324.235.345.656 B

answered Nov 18 at 11:52

RudiC

3,5171312

Good idea but with a little catch: command aliases are disabled in scripts by default unless enabled with shopt -s expand_aliases.
– David Foerster
Nov 18 at 12:29

add a comment |

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2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

up vote
6
down vote

accepted

Try arrays:

NUMFMT=( --suffix=" B"   '--grouping' )

....

numfmt "${NUMFMT[@]}" 231210893

edited Nov 18 at 3:26

Filipe Brandenburger

6,6801732

answered Nov 18 at 1:21

Isaac

10.1k11445

I had to remove the "s in the first argument, but now it works perfectly. Thanks!
– A. Donda
Nov 18 at 1:38

add a comment |

up vote
6
down vote

accepted

Try arrays:

NUMFMT=( --suffix=" B"   '--grouping' )

....

numfmt "${NUMFMT[@]}" 231210893

edited Nov 18 at 3:26

Filipe Brandenburger

6,6801732

answered Nov 18 at 1:21

Isaac

10.1k11445

I had to remove the "s in the first argument, but now it works perfectly. Thanks!
– A. Donda
Nov 18 at 1:38

add a comment |

up vote
6
down vote

accepted

Try arrays:

NUMFMT=( --suffix=" B"   '--grouping' )

....

numfmt "${NUMFMT[@]}" 231210893

edited Nov 18 at 3:26

Filipe Brandenburger

6,6801732

answered Nov 18 at 1:21

Isaac

10.1k11445

Try arrays:

NUMFMT=( --suffix=" B"   '--grouping' )

....

numfmt "${NUMFMT[@]}" 231210893

edited Nov 18 at 3:26

Filipe Brandenburger

6,6801732

answered Nov 18 at 1:21

Isaac

10.1k11445

edited Nov 18 at 3:26

Filipe Brandenburger

6,6801732

edited Nov 18 at 3:26

Filipe Brandenburger

6,6801732

edited Nov 18 at 3:26

Filipe Brandenburger

6,6801732

answered Nov 18 at 1:21

Isaac

10.1k11445

answered Nov 18 at 1:21

Isaac

10.1k11445

answered Nov 18 at 1:21

Isaac

10.1k11445

I had to remove the "s in the first argument, but now it works perfectly. Thanks!
– A. Donda
Nov 18 at 1:38

add a comment |

I had to remove the "s in the first argument, but now it works perfectly. Thanks!
– A. Donda
Nov 18 at 1:38

I had to remove the "s in the first argument, but now it works perfectly. Thanks!
– A. Donda
Nov 18 at 1:38

add a comment |

up vote
0
down vote

Wouldn't that be an excellent case for an alias?

$ alias nfmtB='numfmt --suffix=" B" --grouping'

$ nfmtB 324235345656

324.235.345.656 B

answered Nov 18 at 11:52

RudiC

3,5171312

Good idea but with a little catch: command aliases are disabled in scripts by default unless enabled with shopt -s expand_aliases.
– David Foerster
Nov 18 at 12:29

add a comment |

up vote
0
down vote

Wouldn't that be an excellent case for an alias?

$ alias nfmtB='numfmt --suffix=" B" --grouping'

$ nfmtB 324235345656

324.235.345.656 B

answered Nov 18 at 11:52

RudiC

3,5171312

Good idea but with a little catch: command aliases are disabled in scripts by default unless enabled with shopt -s expand_aliases.
– David Foerster
Nov 18 at 12:29

add a comment |

up vote
0
down vote

Wouldn't that be an excellent case for an alias?

$ alias nfmtB='numfmt --suffix=" B" --grouping'

$ nfmtB 324235345656

324.235.345.656 B

answered Nov 18 at 11:52

RudiC

3,5171312

Wouldn't that be an excellent case for an alias?

$ alias nfmtB='numfmt --suffix=" B" --grouping'

$ nfmtB 324235345656

324.235.345.656 B

answered Nov 18 at 11:52

RudiC

3,5171312

answered Nov 18 at 11:52

RudiC

3,5171312

answered Nov 18 at 11:52

RudiC

3,5171312

answered Nov 18 at 11:52

RudiC

3,5171312

Good idea but with a little catch: command aliases are disabled in scripts by default unless enabled with shopt -s expand_aliases.
– David Foerster
Nov 18 at 12:29

add a comment |

Good idea but with a little catch: command aliases are disabled in scripts by default unless enabled with shopt -s expand_aliases.
– David Foerster
Nov 18 at 12:29

Good idea but with a little catch: command aliases are disabled in scripts by default unless enabled with shopt -s expand_aliases.
– David Foerster
Nov 18 at 12:29

add a comment |

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