Issues in spaced filepaths with complex find loop

Question

Title should say it all, if not let me know and I will update the question.

The code

TYPE=('html?' 'jsp' 'php')
TYPE=$(printf "|%s" "${TYPE[@]}")

## will not except paths with spaces
for file in $(find -E * -type f -iregex ".*(${TYPE:1})") ; do 
    echo $file
done

While trying to wrap it

## command substitution: line ~: syntax error near unexpected token `('
## command substitution: line ~: `find -E * -type f -iregex \".*(${TYPE:1})\")"'
for file in "$(find -E * -type f -iregex \".*(${TYPE:1})\")" ; do 
    echo $file
done

possible duplicate of [Bash : iterate over list of files with spaces](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7039130/bash-iterate-over-list-of-files-with-spaces) — Reinstate Monica Please, Jul 14 '14 at 20:52

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 14 '14 at 20:43

1

You're quoting it wrong. Proper way is:

for file in $(find -E * -type f -iregex ".*(${TYPE:1})"); do

But if you're using bash the better way is to use a while loop with process substitution:

while IFS= read -r file; do
    echo "$file"
done < <(exec find -E * -type f -iregex ".*(${TYPE:1})")

find -E * -type f -iregex ".*(${TYPE:1})" | while IFS= read -r file; do may apply too but it runs your loop on a subshell. Changes in variables are lost after it exits.

Also if you're using Bash 3.1 or newer, you can just use -v option of printf:

printf -v TYPE '|%s' "${TYPE[@]}"

answered Jul 14 '14 at 20:43

konsolebox

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Hrm, didn't seem to work, my Python is still complaining. http://pastebin.com/tGfACpK3 – ehime Jul 14 '14 at 20:47
@ehime It's certainly not meant for Python. What's the other commands? – konsolebox Jul 14 '14 at 20:48
It's ok, looks like the WHILE worked just fine. Accepting and plus 1. thank you sir. – ehime Jul 14 '14 at 20:49
I added it on the pastebin link above, just in case you wanted to see. – ehime Jul 14 '14 at 20:50

Issues in spaced filepaths with complex find loop

1 Answers1