How to source a string path in shell?

Question

I want to do things like this:

local_config="~/.local_config"
source $local_config

But it seems that the string is not treated as a file path.

I'm using Zsh.

Keep `~` outside quotes to make it: `local_config=~"/.local_config"` — anubhava, May 02 '18 at 20:07
Yes. That works! It is unexpected that Nobody asked this question. — chaosink, May 02 '18 at 20:24
Possible duplicate of [Tilde expansion in quotes](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15858766/tilde-expansion-in-quotes) — chepner, May 03 '18 at 19:36
There are various `bash` questions, and I (prematurely) voted to close this as a duplicate of one of them, but `zsh` does behave differently enough to warrant leaving this open. — chepner, May 03 '18 at 19:39

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered May 02 '18 at 20:27

2

Try without quotes:

local_config=~/.local_config

or

local_config="$HOME/.local_config"

answered May 02 '18 at 20:27

Harald Nordgren

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 03 '18 at 19:39

2

~ is not expanded inside the single or double quotes. To make it work, keep ~ outside the quotes as:

local_config=~"/.local_config"

edited May 03 '18 at 19:39

chepner

answered May 02 '18 at 20:28

anubhava

1

Sorry I edited the answer; I missed the `zsh` tag, and `zsh` is more forgiving than `bash` is regarding tilde expansion. – chepner May 03 '18 at 19:37

2 Answers2