space in file names

man_linux · 09-20-2006, 03:16 PM

How to get rid of spaces used in filenames.
When i upload some files from windows to linux, some of them are with spaces in file names, while reading or editing that file in shell it doesn’t create problem.

but when i use the file name as some variable and try to use in script then it creates problem, i can even rename the file. any solution for this?

dracolich · 09-20-2006, 04:20 PM

Are you trying to rename the file from a console, i.e. not in a GUI? The trick to working with filenames that have spaces is to put a \ before each space, like this:

file name.foo = file\ name.foo

So if you wantr to rename it use:

mv file\ name.foo file_name.foo

And for scripting I'm not 100% sure, but I think you could put the file name in quotes: FILE="file name.foo" if that's what you're trying to do.

Good luck

Matir · 09-20-2006, 05:46 PM

You can also use double quotes around the name of the file: e.g., "my file.txt".

fudam · 09-20-2006, 06:32 PM

While Matir is correct regarding the quotes, if you still wish to remove the spaces from your filenames try this in bash (in the directory with the intentioned files):

Code:

for i in *; do mv "$i" $(echo "$i" | tr " " "_"); done;