I'm trying to put a variable into the rsync command but I just get some BS error about escaping - whatever that is suppose to mean.

This is my command:


${OPTARGS} has this value:
--rsh='ssh -p 34'


Wont work. If I type that text directly, then it works. Other then using some if statement to have two different command calls, how can I make this work?

Ended up rewriting my script in C++, 100 times easier. It was becoming complex and bash syntax can be a real nightmare to work with.

Use () instead of {}. Change ${OPTARGS} to $(OPTARGS). So for the whole command use:

rsync -rvvuc --exclude '/Output/*' $(OPTARGS) --delete $(SOURCE)scripts/ $(DEST)scripts/

I don't think that would accomplish what Red Squirrel's trying.

Parentheses are command substitution (replacing the contents of the parentheses with the output of a command) and curly braces are parameter substitution (replacing the content of the curly braces with the value of the variable).

It seems clear that Red Squirrel was trying to substitute a variable's value--so the curly braces look like the right decision.

Now, I know there's a C++ substitute, but I'm curious, what was the exact error displayed when trying to use the command as written? "Escaping" a character typically means adding a backslash to one or more characters to prevent the shell from treating it specially (like wildcards for instance). It would also be useful to see the script as a whole, or at least some context around the command.