Can't execute bash command for path in environment variable that contains spaces

Asked Apr 24 '20 at 15:49

Active Apr 24 '20 at 15:57

Viewed 21 times

I want to count the lines of a file in a folder with a space in its name. I unfortunately cannot change the folder name, it will always have a space in it.

$ export MYPATH=a\ folder/trigrams.txt
$ wc -l $MYPATH
wc: a: open: No such file or directory
wc: folder/trigrams.txt: open: No such file or directory
       0 total

$ export MYPATH="a\ folder/trigrams.txt"
$ wc -l $MYPATH
wc: a\: open: No such file or directory
wc: folder/trigrams.txt: open: No such file or directory
   0 total

$ wc -l "$MYPATH"
wc: a\ folder/trigrams.txt: open: No such file or directory

$ wc -l a\ folder/trigrams.txt 
70803 a folder/trigrams.txt

edited Apr 24 '20 at 15:52

asked Apr 24 '20 at 15:49

Sahand

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`wc -l "$MYPATH"` – Benjamin W. Apr 24 '20 at 15:50
You have to assign like `MYPATH='a folder/trigrams.txt'` and then use `wc -l "$MYPATH"`; you added a literal backslash in your latest edit. – Benjamin W. Apr 24 '20 at 15:52

Can't execute bash command for path in environment variable that contains spaces

0 Answers0