[TriLUG] RE with bash

[Aaron S. Joyner]

Joseph Mack NA3T wrote:

> On Mon, 23 Oct 2006, Joseph Mack NA3T wrote:
>
> the answer is trivial (RTFM, Q14)
>
> http://home.comcast.net/~j.p.h/cus-faq-2.html#14
>
>> echo "directories=$directories"
>>
>>    gives
>>
>> directories=A|Flash\ Player|foo
>
>
> don't go putting '\' in a filename. Instead stop the shell from doing 
> filename expansion
>
> # directories=A|Flash Player|foo
>
> # set -f; IFS="|"; for directory in $directories; do echo $directory; 
> cd $directory; cd -; done
>
> cd's just fine to Flash Player
>
> Joe
>
But it doesn't handle 'Flash|Player' as a directory name.  I don't have 
to think through the general solution, but reading this made me want to 
point out that you're just trading off the space character as a 
potential problem for the pipe character.  Generally, that's probably a 
pretty good trade, and you could make more esoteric trade offs, (think 
of using ^ or ; instead of |, which seem marginally less likely to 
appear in filenames), but it's important to be aware that you're not 
solving the root problem, you're just conveniently avoiding it.

Aaron S. Joyner