CODEWITHSUNDEEP
shellksh
Palace Chan
Palace Chan

Reputation: 9203

How do I escape a comma in korn shell?

The following:

#!/bin/sh

FOX="{ab,cd}"
echo $FOX

outputs what I'd expect ({ab,cd}) but:

#!/bin/ksh

FOX="{ab,cd}"
echo $FOX

turns the comma into a space. Why is this? I also cannot seem to escape the comma with '\'.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 607

Answers (1)

Tim Pote
Tim Pote

Reputation: 28049

You're getting brace expansion when $FOX is evaluated.

From the ksh man page:

For the form {*,*}:

a field is created for each string between { and ,, between , and ,, and between , and }.

So the shell is taking your comma separated list and expanding it so that it can be used, for example, in a for loop.

As, shellter suggested in the comments, this can be fixed by double-quoting "$FOX" whenever it is evaluated.

Upvotes: 4

Related Questions