CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashshellunix
Midhun
Midhun

Reputation: 375

Shell script issue with directory and filenames containing spaces

I understand that one technique for dealing with spaces in filenames is to enclose the file name with single quotes: "'".I have a directory and a filename with space. I want a shell script to read all the files along with the posted time and directory name. I wrote the below script:

#!/bin/bash
CURRENT_DATE=`date +'%d%m%Y'`
Temp_Path=/appinfprd/bi/infogix/IA83/InfogixClient/Scripts/IRP/
find /bishare/IRP_PROJECT/SFTP/  -type f | xargs ls -al > $Temp_Path/File_Posted_$CURRENT_DATE.txt

which is partially working. It is not working for the directory and files that has a space in it.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 281

Answers (2)

Rogus
Rogus

Reputation: 770

You can change the IFS variable for a moment (Internal Fields Separator):

#!/bin/bash
# Backing up the old value of IFS
OLDIFS="$IFS"
# Making newline the only field separator - spaces are no longer separators
# NOTE that " is the last character in line and the next line starts with "
IFS="
"
CURRENT_DATE=`date +'%d%m%Y'`
Temp_Path=/appinfprd/bi/infogix/IA83/InfogixClient/Scripts/IRP/
find /bishare/IRP_PROJECT/SFTP/  -type f | xargs ls -al > $Temp_Path/File_Posted_$CURRENT_DATE.txt
# Restore the original value of IFS
IFS="$OLDIFS"

Upvotes: 0

John Kugelman
John Kugelman

Reputation: 361565

Use find -print0 | xargs -0 to reliably handle file names with special characters in them, including spaces and newlines.

find /bishare/IRP_PROJECT/SFTP/ -type f -print0 |
    xargs -0 ls -al > "$Temp_Path/File_Posted_$CURRENT_DATE.txt"

Alternatively, you can use find -exec which runs the command of your choice on every file found.

find /bishare/IRP_PROJECT/SFTP/ -type f -exec ls -al {} + \
    > "$Temp_Path/File_Posted_$CURRENT_DATE.txt"

In the specific case of ls -l you could take this one step further and use the -ls action.

find /bishare/IRP_PROJECT/SFTP/ -type f -ls > "$Temp_Path/File_Posted_$CURRENT_DATE.txt"

You should also get in the habit of quoting all variable expansions like you mentioned in your post.

Upvotes: 1

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