LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] grep a string with space

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vikas027

02-09-2010 03:06 PM

grep a string with space

Hi All,

I am using Sun 5.9.

I am putting the value "Feb 10" in variable 'c' here.

Code:

-bash-3.00$ c=`date | awk '{print $2 " " $3}'`

-bash-3.00$ echo $c

Feb 10

But when I am grep-ing value of 'c', I am getting this error.

Code:

-bash-3.00$ ls -lrth | grep $c

grep: can't open 10

This is because there is a space between "Feb" and "10".

Any other way out ?

mjones490

02-09-2010 03:13 PM

Put the $c in single quotes:

Code:

-bash-3.00$ ls -lrth | grep '$c'

pixellany

02-09-2010 03:16 PM

I would have said double-quotes (to allow the variable to be expanded)

PTrenholme

02-09-2010 03:18 PM

Read the "quoting" section of the bash manual. I don't use a Sun system (nor the Sun OS), but - if the have a POSIX bash - try grep "$c" or grep /\'$c\'/.

vikas027

02-09-2010 04:17 PM

Thanks pixellany and PTrenholme, double quotes is working fine.
I was trying awk/sed ;) Sometimes things are too simple and you try too hard.

colucix

02-09-2010 04:22 PM

Another clue: you can simplify the assignment using the date format (no need to parse with awk):

Code:

c=`date +%b\ %e`

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