How to keep quotes when executing a command in bash

Question

I have a bash script that contains something similar to the following:

cmd="grep 'a b'"

echo $cmd
$cmd

The problem is that $ cmd for some reason strips the quotes around "a b" and executes the command like grep a b

, causing its error:

% ./test.sh
grep 'a b'
grep: b': No such file or directory

I've tried various combinations of quotes and escapes, but the result is always the same.

+3

mrwooster 18 nov. 14 at 21:50

2 answers

You shouldn't use strings for this, but arrays:

cmd=( grep 'a b' )
"${cmd[@]}"

For an in-depth overview see BashFAQ / 050 .

+3

gniourf_gniourf 18 nov. 14 at 22:04

John Kugelman · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-18T22:08:26+0000

The best place to store commands is in functions. Rule of thumb: variables are for data; functions are for commands.

cmd() {
    grep 'a b'
}

...

cmd