Don't escape double quotes in a string

Question

I have written a command line script and I am testing that using java.

In command line I write like this: script -html="anchor bold" so while testing the same using java code, how exactly should my string be outlined?

-html=anchor bold" it doesn't work as double quotes dont get included so my test fails

-html=\"anchor bold\" this escapes double quotes but I want it.

-html=\\\"anchor bold\\\" this results in -html=\"anchor bold\" but I don't want any slashes.

I am using a String[] array to execute the command.

new String[] { "--path=" + p,
               "--user=" + user,
               "--html=\"anchor bold\"",
               "--port=8081"
            }

The command line argument is:

path/executeScript --path=path1 --user=testUser --html="anchor bold" --port=8081

Try: -html=' "anchor bold" ' Without the spaces between the double and single quotes. I just spaced it out so you could tell what was going on. — jordaniac89, Jan 09 '15 at 18:01
Could we have more details ? How is `-html="anchor bold"` used in your class ? Show us your script detail. — ToYonos, Jan 12 '15 at 15:24
I'm sure we can help with this, but we need to know: A little more context to the code - how are you trying to run the script? Using Runtime.getRuntime().exec(yourCommandString)? Is the first command line the one you want in yourCommandString? Is the second the way you want to invoke your Java? What is wrong with your solution that uses "--html=\"anchor bold\""? Why doesn't that work for you? — J Richard Snape, Jan 14 '15 at 13:02
Note (Jan. 2018), raw string literals might be coming for Java (JDK 10 or more): see [In Java, is there a way to write a string literal without having to escape quotes?](https://stackoverflow.com/a/48481601/6309). — VonC, Jan 27 '18 at 23:28

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

11

If you want to to test your script with Java, with parameters containing quotes, you don't have any choice, you'll have to escape it.

String[] command  = new String[] {
    "path/executeScript",
    "--path=" + p,
    "--user=" + user,
    "--html=\"anchor bold\"",
    "--port=8081"
}
Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);

Technical explanation : https://stackoverflow.com/a/3034195/2003986

edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

Community

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answered Jan 12 '15 at 16:25

ToYonos

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Why dont I have any choice and have to escape the double quoteS? – fscore Jan 12 '15 at 16:38
That is how Java works. Here is an technical explanation : http://stackoverflow.com/a/3034195/2003986 – ToYonos Jan 12 '15 at 16:41
ok I understand the technical explanation but in my case, how do I test a situation like that? – fscore Jan 12 '15 at 17:50
I don't get it, what do you want to do ? – ToYonos Jan 12 '15 at 18:26
Even if your string is escaped, your command line could be ok – ToYonos Jan 12 '15 at 22:19

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

To declare a String literal, the only way to do it is with double quotes surrounding characters in the String. Like this:

"String Characters"
... String Characters

From the Java Language Specifications §3.10.5:

A string literal consists of zero or more characters enclosed in double quotes. Characters may be represented by escape sequences (§3.10.6) - one escape sequence for characters in the range U+0000 to U+FFFF, two escape sequences for the UTF-16 surrogate code units of characters in the range U+010000 to U+10FFFF.
StringLiteral:
  " {StringCharacter} "
StringCharacter:
  InputCharacter but not " or \ 
  EscapeSequence
_{See §3.10.6 for the definition of EscapeSequence.}
[...]
The following are examples of string literals:
""                    // the empty string
"\""                  // a string containing " alone
"This is a string"    // a string containing 16 characters
"This is a " +        // actually a string-valued constant expression,
    "two-line string"    // formed from two string literals

Because escaping the double quotes is a compile-time syntax requirement, you must escape the double quotes in a String literal.

You can try for a Unicode literal, but I highly doubt (spoilers: it doesn't) the compiler would accept it:

"--html=\u0022anchor bold\u0022" — Wrong

Use an escape:

"--html=\"anchor bold\"" — Right

Of which is treated by the compiler as:

... --html="anchor bold"

See also:

In Java, is there a way to write a string literal without having to escape quotes?

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 17 '15 at 03:42

2

Use the escape character in front of anything you want to use as a literal character, then put the double quotes around it as usual.

script -html="\"anchor bold\""

edited Jan 17 '15 at 03:42

Avinash Raj

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answered Jan 09 '15 at 23:21

Lewis Strasburg

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 15:24

0

A way I could think of.. Using characters.

"--html=" + '"' + "anchor bold" + '"'

answered Jan 16 '15 at 15:24

Bubletan

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Eh, unfortunately `String + char` concatenation process will implicitly downcast the `char` into an `int`. In this case, `"` becomes `22`, so you'll get `--html=22anchor bold22`. – Unihedron Jan 19 '15 at 09:44
If you write `System.out.println('"' + "string" + '"');` It prints out: `"string"`... Not `22string22`. – Bubletan Jan 19 '15 at 18:02

Don't escape double quotes in a string

4 Answers4