Executing a C program from a script
 

I currently execute a C program (example: /bin/cprogram) from a command prompt including passing a 600 character string within double quotes, and an output file name (example: /usr/outputfile).

Example:

$ /bin/cprogram "very long string with spaces, special characters, but no double quotes, etc etc" /usr/outputfile

Question: How would I write a shell script to receive that 600 character string and the output file name as input variables and then execute that same C program?

I would suggest changing the cprogram to read from stdin.

That way the "600 character string" could be from a file, or a pipe...

Much more flexible.

But a shell script has exactly the same format as the command.

This is what I've tried without success:

#!/bin/sh
read input
read filename

/bin/cprogram $input $filename

I include the double quotes on my input. Would that be lost somewhere?

Yes, that would be lost where you use $input, put quotes around that