How to deal with spaces in command line arguments

satya123 · 05-25-2012, 01:39 AM

Hi all,

I have a script which can be called from command line as:
hc -t SW HEALTH -l

The argument for -t option is "SW HEALTH". But when I use getopts and use $OPTARG for getting the argument, I get only SW as the output.
Is there a way I can deal with the space and get the entire option?

Thanks in advance

pan64 · 05-25-2012, 01:47 AM

sure, there is a way, use "SW HEALTH"
in general use "$var" anywhere (and see manuals about quoting)

satya123 · 05-25-2012, 02:04 AM

Im sorry.. Maybe I was not clear.
I call the script as:
hc -t SW HEALTH -l

Inside the script, I parse the arguments as:
while getopts t:l option
do
case $option in
t) # Check based on TYPE of requirement
type=$OPTARG
;;
l) # Run command in local mode
LOCAL=1
;;
esac
done

SO my problem is:
I am expecting variable type would contain SW HEALTH. But it contains only SW. It does not consider the OPTARG with space.

catkin · 05-25-2012, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by satya123

Im sorry.. Maybe I was not clear.
I call the script as:
hc -t SW HEALTH -l

As pan64 suggested, you need to quote SW HEALTH:

Code:

hc -t "SW HEALTH" -l

I have shown double quotes because they are easier to see. If there's nothing in the string for the shell to substitute and the string does not contain a single quote (as is the case with SW HEALTH) then single quotes would be more appropriate.

pan64 · 05-25-2012, 02:12 AM

you must call as hc -t "SW HEALTH" -l otherwise it will be split and your script will get it in two pieces.

satya123 · 05-25-2012, 02:26 AM

Neither "" nor '' work

pan64 · 05-25-2012, 02:29 AM

both should work, just you should write "$OPTARG" also otherwise your string will be split.

catkin · 05-25-2012, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by satya123

Im sorry.. Maybe I was not clear.
I call the script as:
hc -t SW HEALTH -l

Inside the script, I parse the arguments as:
while getopts t:l option
do
case $option in
t) # Check based on TYPE of requirement
type=$OPTARG
;;
l) # Run command in local mode
LOCAL=1
;;
esac
done

SO my problem is:
I am expecting variable type would contain SW HEALTH. But it contains only SW. It does not consider the OPTARG with space.

Please use CODE tags (most easily by going into Advanced mode and using the # button) when posting code.

What is the output when you add this debugging command

Code:

                t)      # Check based on TYPE of requirement
                        type=$OPTARG
                        echo "DEBUG: type: >$OPTARG<"
                ;;

satya123 · 05-25-2012, 04:41 AM

Sorry but even "$OPTARG" does not work. it still gives only SW

catkin · 05-25-2012, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by satya123

Sorry but even "$OPTARG" does not work. it still gives only SW

Is the output of echo "DEBUG: type: >$OPTARG<" "DEBUG: type: >SW<"?

If so and you are using hc -t "SW HEALTH" -l, then you could try

Code:

type="$OPTARG"

Some older shells required that.

It would be helpful if you could copy and paste from your command prompt session into this thread (ideally within CODE tags) then we could see exactly what you are doing and what the output is. Much more useful than "does not work"!

satya123 · 05-25-2012, 05:21 AM

Sorry all. It works fine. I was sending the argument to getopts without enclosing it in " ". Now it works fine.
THANK YOU

pan64 · 05-25-2012, 05:24 AM

great!

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catkin · 05-25-2012, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by satya123

Sorry all. It works fine. I was sending the argument to getopts without enclosing it in " ". Now it works fine.
THANK YOU

Good

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David the H. · 05-25-2012, 10:32 AM

When you have a chance, read these three links. It's vital in scripting to understand exactly how the shell handles arguments and whitespace:

http://mywiki.wooledge.org/Arguments
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/WordSplitting
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/Quotes

smoker · 05-25-2012, 11:59 AM

While its all worked out fine, I don't think the main point was addressed.
Your script can't take account of spaces in a single argument if you don't have control of the input, although if your script only takes one argument, then you could read all the arguments and then concatenate them.
Generally It's easier to throw an error if you get something unexpected.