solve $1: ambiguous redirect

Question

I'm using this script to backup an old private instance of postgresql to gmail periodically:

#!/bin/bash
/opt/local/lib/postgresql83/bin/pg_dump maxgests -U postgres | gzip --best -c > $1 && (/opt/local/bin/mutt -s `date "+%d-%m-%Y-%H:%M"` -a $1 $2 < /dev/null)

As of late I'm getting this:

./postgres_to_gmail.sh: line 2: $1: ambiguous redirect

And the script no longer works. Mac OS X 10.6.8.

Can anytone tell what's wrong and how to fix it?

First argument is a path, like /tmp/database.gz

Second argument is the email.

Well what does $1 look like? Something else, you must quote **all** path-containing variables in your Bash scripts. Otherwise they’ll break when (not if, *when*) they contain spaces. — Konrad Rudolph, Jul 13 '13 at 09:37
As an aside, I don't think the parentheses around the last command are necessary or useful. — tripleee, Jul 13 '13 at 09:40
Always use `#!/bin/bash -u` to get errors for unbound variables. Makes life much simpler — Sodved, Jul 13 '13 at 09:42

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 13 '13 at 09:38

14

$1 is apparently empty.

As a general guidance, you should put your variable interpolations in double quotes, nearly always.

answered Jul 13 '13 at 09:38

tripleee

158,107
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For detailed quoting guidance, see [When to wrap quotes around a variable](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10067266/when-to-wrap-quotes-around-a-variable). – tripleee Jul 13 '16 at 07:22

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 13 '13 at 09:40

1

the caller doesn't set the arguments ($1 $2) you should check the crontab or the program which calls is periodically more

$ echo > $1
bash: $1: ambiguous redirect

answered Jul 13 '13 at 09:40

Zoltán Haindrich

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18

solve $1: ambiguous redirect

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