expect problem with set

[delevel]

#!/usr/bin/expect -f
set EXCLUDE "--exclude 'home/dave/fun'"
spawn tar -czf /home/backup/dave.tgz -C / home/dave/ $EXCLUDE

I will get this error

spawn tar -czf /home/backup/dave.tgz -C / home/dave/ --exclude 'home/dave/fun'
tar: unrecognized option '--exclude 'home/dave/fun'
Try `tar --help' or `tar --usage' for more information.

How do I fix the problem with "set EXCLUDE" Do I need to escape -- some how?

if I do this in shell it works with no problem at all...

tar -czf /home/backup/dave.tgz -C / home/dave/ --exclude 'home/dave/fun'

[jimseg]

It looks to me like the --exclude and 'home/dave/fun' have been combined into a single argument to tar (tar expects the shell to separate arguments into individual strings, it doesn't parse the command line itself).

Try:
set EXCLUDE='home/dave/fun'
spawn tar -czf /home/backup/dave.tgz -C / home/dave/ --exclude $EXCLUDE