\ escaped space is not being preserved after variable

[joelcarlton]

I am trying to put absolute paths into my script and folder/folder\ folder is not being preserved. /folder/folder folder is being returned.

Here is an example:

#!/bin/bash
clear
read -p "Enter the Absolute Path to Source File/Folder: " Source
read -p "Enter the Absolute Path to Destination File/Folder: " Destination
echo "Usage: ln -vs $Source $Destination"
ln -vs $Source $Destination
cd $Destination; cd ..
ls -lasS

Enter the Absolute Path to Source File/Folder: /Users/joel/Library/Application\ Support 
Enter the Absolute Path to Destination File/Folder: /Users/joel
Usage: ln -vs /Users/joel/Library/Application Support 
/Users/joel/Library/Application Support
/Users/joel
computer:~ joel$

Does anyone know how to get the \ escape the be there after being put into a variable?

Thanks,
Joel

[atreyu]

I'm not exactly sure what you're doing, but how about something like this:

#!/bin/bash
read -p "Enter Source: " Source
read -p "Enter Dest: " Dest

# replace spaces in Source variable with "\ "
Source=$(echo $Source|sed -e 's| |\\ |g')

echo "Usage: ln -vs $Source $Dest"

# if you're using the variable in some command, eval it
eval ln -sv $Source $Dest

[joelcarlton]

That works, Wow, Thank you.

Would it be possible for you to explain the usage of sed -e 's| |\\ |g

# replace spaces in Source variable with "\ "
Source=$(echo $Source|sed -e 's| |\\ |g')

[atreyu]

The first part of the sed command is the regular expression (regex) that some string ($Source) will get matched on - in our case, the space character (| |), and the second part is a replacement for it (in our case, a backslash and a space), but you have to escape the backslash (|\\ |). The pipes, '|', are just the field separators, they do nothing else. The 's' at the beginning tells sed that it is going to do a substitution of the 1st field with the second field. The 'g' (or global) at the end means replace all instances of the character (space, in our case).

So what we're doing is taking the input the user gave to us as $Source, then we run $Source thru sed to replace all spaces found with a backslash (escaped) and a space and save the output of sed to the same variable name (Source).

[joelcarlton]

Thanks for the clear and detailed definition. I will post the completed script when I get a chance.

Thanks,
Joel

[joelcarlton]

Here is the finished script; thanks for everyones help.

See below

# Clear screen for input
clear
# Gather Source
read -p "Enter the Absolute Path to Source File/Folder: " Source
# replace spaces in Source variable with "\ "
Source2=$(echo $Source|sed -e 's| |\\ |g')
# Gather Destination
read -p "Enter the Absolute Path to Destination File/Folder: " Destination
# replace spaces in Destination variable with "\ "
Destination2=$(echo $Destination|sed -e 's| |\\ |g')

# Clear screen for output
clear
# Display current working directory
echo "Long listing taken from: `pwd`"
echo ""
# Execute command
eval ln -s $Source2 $Destination2
# cd to directory where link was created
eval cd $Destination2
# Extract the name of the link from the path of the 
# source file/folder turn that into a variable
greppath=$(echo $Source | rev | cut -d"/" -f1 | rev )
# Grep the name of variable just created and display
# it in a long listing showing the link
ls -lasS | grep "$greppath"
# Show Usage
echo "Usage: ln -vs $Source2 $Destination2"
echo ""